


The Suicidal Superhero

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abusive Family, Attempted Suicide, Flying, Gen, Jarvis Is The Best Friend, Superpowers, Tony Stark is a mess, but he wants to be better, everyone quips, for the child he adopts while Pepper is away, he had it coming though, mocking nick fury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-03-13 13:28:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 80
Words: 157,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13571514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Avalon Bench has been neglected her entire life. After she's in an accident, her mother says she wishes she had never been born. So Avalon decides to jump off a bridge. She doesn't expect to be saved by Iron Man, though. And she slowly discovers that he needs her as much as she needs him. (yikes that summary sucks)





	1. Prologue/Chapter 1

Prologue

Margie Bench stared at the binder of papers in front of her maliciously. If it was a person, it would be cowering under her gaze. She was pissed. According to this report, they were trashing her husband’s idea. It was a brilliant idea, and these people were absolute idiots to not use it. With Tony Stark being nothing more than a figurehead, the company’s research team was able to get away with a lot of unauthorized projects. But apparently this one was just too much. And that was insulting.

She called her husband, Stan, and they met in the privacy of one of the old labs. She thrust the offensive binder into his arms. “They’re scraping your idea.”

His voice was tight. “That is very foolish of them.”

Margie nodded. “The project that I’m currently working on with some of the others is a very valuable project to Mr. Stane. If it were to go… missing… I’m sure he would be willing to negotiate with whoever happens to find it.”

Stan nodded his approval, and the young couple separated to get back to work before someone noticed their absences. Margie used her special access card to get into the top secret workshop. She whispered excuses in the ears of the two scientists in the room, and they quickly left. 

She walked over to the tank in the middle of the room, and grinned. It was the only successful version of the project, and the only copies of the research were sitting on the table right next to it. She scooped up the project and slipped it into her bag, along with all the papers, which she would destroy later.

And then it was all too easy to walk right out of the building, and to get into the car, where Stan was already waiting. They had no idea how much work it would be to sustain the project, and how much of their lives it would cost them. But even if they did know, at that moment, they probably wouldn’t have cared.

 

Chapter One  
16 Years Later

Avalon, or Ava, as she liked to be called, sat up and stretched. She had just had a good night, which was pretty rare. Most of her nights involved thrashing around in her sheets and screaming for help that would never come. But last night, she had been able to rest peacefully, and she couldn’t remember what she had dreamed about, if it had been anything at all.

Ava got up, and made her bed, then got dressed. She looked around her spacious room. It was the same room that she had used for as long as she could remember, but that was okay with her. It had a four poster bed with a canopy, a dresser, a desk, and a closet full of clothes. Clothes that she had only gotten by ‘borrowing’ her mom’s credit card.

She had been sure that her mother was finally going to hit her after that last shopping spree, but the woman had just done her usual routine of ignoring the girl. Ava quietly crept down to the kitchen, not wanting to disturb her parents. She turned on the kitchen light, and checked the pantry first, then the fridge. They were both empty. 

Her parents very rarely were home, other than at night, and even that wasn’t guaranteed. So more often than not, there was no food in the house. They seemed to forget about Ava’s existence the majority of the time. Either that, or they didn’t realize that humans needed to eat to survive.

Ava’s stomach was growling, but she ignored it. She would have breakfast when she got to school. She had honestly been very surprised when her parents had enrolled her, because they didn’t seem like they would remember something like that. Either that or they wanted her out of the house as often as possible. It was most likely the latter.

She went back upstairs to slip on her shoes and grab her backpack, then left the house. It was always better to get away from that place. Other than her room, and that was only because her parents never ventured there, the entire place looked like no one even lived there. There wasn’t a single piece of dust, nothing out of place, no signs of life. 

As soon as she was outside, she began to jog to the bus stop. She knew that it would be a couple hours still until the bus arrived, but it was a nice day out, and she could sit on the bench and work on her homework for a while. She was relieved that there was no one else out when she got there. She had a small case of social anxiety, and while it wasn’t too big a deal, it did make her especially wary of talking to other people.

Ava worked on her calculus for a while, then gave up. It was so annoying, how other people seemed to understand this stuff so much. But this work, written down on paper, wasn’t what she could do. Her talents were in the realm of computers, and really any technology that came her way. She could do a million and one things on a computer in the same amount of time it would take someone to read one page of a childrens’ book. But give her some math work? She would get completely lost. And there wasn’t room for her computer prowess at school, so that was something she kept to herself.

It slowly got lighter out, and Ava packed up all of her stuff to wait for the bus. Other kids got to the bus stop one after another. After a few minutes of waiting awkwardly a few feet away from the others and staring at the ground, like always, someone shuffled into her view. She hesitantly looked up, and Chad Mully. That was bad. Very bad.

He grinned mischieviously. “So, what have you been up to? Everyone wants the latest on the resident introvert.”

Ava frowned, and cleared her throat a few times before she could speak. “Nothing.”

He laughed, and turned to the other kids. When he saw that he had an audience, he decided that he should do his proper duty and entertain them. “Nothing, you say? I find that hard to believe. I’ve heard a few people saying that they saw you leaving Trevor Norton’s place late last night. What’s that all about?”

Ava’s face flushed. “That’s not true-”

Chad smirked. “I bet you’re not even a virgin, are you?”

A few people chuckled, and Ava could feel the butterflies tumbling around in her stomach. This was one of those times that she couldn’t help thinking it would have been kinder of her parents to just let her starve to death as a baby, or something. “Please just leave me alone. I haven’t done anything to you.”

Chad’s eyes narrowed. “So are you saying that you don’t recall sitting in my seat Friday? Everyone knows that the back seat is mine, yet you had the audacity to sit there.”

Ava gulped. She would never sit in the back of the bus, and he knew it. “You must be mistaken. Please, I didn’t sit there.”

His grin grew. “Are you talking back to me, you little punk? Now why would you do that if you really are innocent?” Ava couldn’t help it, one hand flew out and struck Chad across the cheek. She was suddenly horrified. 

There was an old car, a puffer as the kids would call it, driving haltingly down the street. Chad’s face lit up like someone told him that Christmas had come early this year. He bent down to whisper into Ava’s ear. “You shouldn’t have done that.” When the puffer was only a few feet away, he shoved Ava out onto the road.

She was frozen in place, and couldn’t move out of the way. The car hit her, and she was flung into the windshield by the momentum. The last thing she saw was Chad’s satisfied smirk.

***

Ava paced nervously back in forth in the small hospital room as she waited for her mother to arrive. Even though she was fine, aside from a few scrapes and a nasty bruise on her forehead, the doctors couldn’t release her without a guardian present since she was still a minor. 

After what seemed like forever, her mom stormed into the hospital. For a moment, Ava almost thought that the anger was for Chad, that her mom was mad someone had pushed her in front of a moving vehicle. But when the woman stomped into the small room and glared, Ava knew that it had been a pointless thing to hope for.

“Do you know how much this is costing me? I have to pay for your hospital bill! I’m the one who has to miss work, where I am earning the money that is keeping you in school, and with a roof over your head! Do you not realize what a burden you are? What a waste of time this is?” She gestured at Ava. “Next time you step in front of a car, wait for it to be a speeding one!” She groaned. “I wish you had never been born!” And she turned and left.

Ava gulped, and left the room. She couldn’t stop her head from drooping. She had always known that her parents didn’t care for her the way they were supposed to, but she had never realized before how much they actually hated her. She wiped her eyes, and approached the secretary. She forced herself not to feel the knots in her stomach at the prospect of talking to a stranger. “Did she… Did she sign the release form?”

The nurse nodded with a small smile. It was obvious that somehow no one had overheard that outburst. “Yup, you’re free to go with your mother now.”

Ava didn’t bother with a proper response, she just nodded and hurried away, before they could decide that she wasn’t allowed to leave after all. She had seen the clock inside, and knew that it was still the middle of the school day. But she couldn’t go to school.

Her feet dragged her along, and before she knew it, she was at the Verrazano-Narrows bridge. She heard her mother’s words echoing around inside her head. She thought of the sheer terror that descended upon her whenever she had to talk to strangers. She was tired of that. She couldn’t take it anymore.

So she walked up the bridge. Without having anything better to do, Ava had done a lot of running around the neighborhood as she grew up, and that topped with the fact that she barely had enough to eat at all, let alone overeat, was how she was in such good shape. She got to the center of the sidewalk, and looked around.

Everyone was already at work who needed to be, so not that many people really went from Staten Island to Brooklyn anyways. Ava took a deep breath as she stared over the railing at the beautiful blue water. It was a lovely sight, as good as any to be her last. Her heart was pounding in her chest like crazy, but she didn’t care.

Ava pulled herself over the safety rail, and sat on the edge of it precariously, her legs dangling freely over the water. She kicked off her shoes, and watched as the hit the water with satisfying twin splashes. She leaned forward, her grip on the rails and her feet resting on the concrete.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. A million what-ifs swirled around in her mind, but she blocked them out. It didn’t matter what could have been, it only mattered what was. So she bent her knees a little, let go of the rail, and sprung over the edge. Her eyes were shut, and, for just a moment, she felt like she was flying. Everything was going to be okay. But she was more terrified than she had thought, because she passed out.

What she didn’t expect was for Iron Man to be flying around, so far out of Manhattan. He saw the free falling body, and was pretty sure that he saw her jump. But he convinced himself that she was pushed, or maybe she tripped, and he rushed over to catch her in his metal arms. She had this troubled look on her face, and she was light. He suspected that even if he wasn’t in his suit, she would have weighed nothing. 

Tony hated hospitals, and he had the latest high tech gear at the tower, so it would make no sense to bring her to the hospital. 'Back to the hospital', his mind whispered as he saw the plastic band hanging loosely off of her thin wrist. He held her tighter, feeling some strange instinct to protect her, and he headed back to the tower. The project he had been working on could wait.


	2. Chapter 2

Ava blinked a few times, and looked around. She was in a comfortable bed, in a plain room. She thought for a moment that maybe she was in heaven. Then the door opened, and a tall man stepped in. Ava recognized him from the news, the largest name in clean energy and all that. She frowned at him. “What happened?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I saved you.”

Ava expected the normal butterflies in her stomach at the prospect of talking to a stranger, but for some reason she felt very confident all of a sudden. She spoke with an accusing tone. “You saved me.”

He tilted his head. “...yes…?”

Ava mimicked him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Well, did you consider the fact that I most obviously didn’t want to be saved? Why did you interfere?”

Tony frowned. “I thought you were pushed.”

Ava sat up. “Well, now that you know that isn’t true, you need to take responsibility.” She saw the confusion on his face, and decided to make it simpler. “You need to kill me.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “What? I’m not going to kill an innocent kid, what the hell?”

Ava wasn’t sure why she felt so uncharacteristically bold. It was like when she stepped off the bridge a part of her did die. She ignored the part of her brain that seemed eager to discover how much she had changed. Nothing was different. “Well, I wouldn’t be so innocent if I attacked you, right?”

Before Tony could respond, she launched herself at him. But she was almost a foot shorter than him, and weighed half as much as him. Plus the long trek to the bridge after that short brush with death had tired her out. Even taking him by surprise, he easily deflected her, and instinctively pushed her away. His strength was much greater than hers, and she flew into the wall.

He winced, a guilty look on his face. He didn’t expect her to pop back up. “Well, I attacked you. Doesn’t that mean you have to kill me now? Isn’t that in the superhero handbook or something?”

Tony sighed with exasperation. He just wanted to help out, he hadn’t signed up to take on crazy. That was more Pepper’s area of expertise, and she was off in Paris, at some conference or another. He left the room, slamming the door behind him. “Jarvis, I want this room on lockdown. Our guest isn’t to leave, okay?”

The disembodied voice answered. “Sir, isn’t that akin to kidnapping?”

“Just do it.” Tony grouched. He took the elevator down to the living room, and poured himself a glass of scotch. He plopped down on the couch. He didn’t even know the girl’s name, and like Jarvis said, this was technically kidnapping. But it was for her own good. “Jarvis, show me the feed from the guest room.”

He had many guest rooms, but the AI wasn’t stupid. The blank television screen turned on, and Tony had a good view of the room. The girl was sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest. There were tears sliding down her cheeks, and that made Tony feel uncomfortable. He never knew what to do when he saw anyone cry, especially kids. And this girl couldn’t be any older than twelve or thirteen. He saw her lips moving, and wondered what she was saying to herself. 

“Sound too.”

He was now able to hear her as well as if he was standing right next to her. “-can too. But wouldn’t you feel better just letting me out of here?”

Tony frowned when he heard his AI respond. “I’m afraid that I cannot go against Master Stark.”

The girl sighed. She turned towards the camera, and Tony got the eery feeling that she was looking right at him. Then she looked away. “Why am I still here?”

Jarvis had the decency to sound uncomfortable. “I believe that Master Stark thinks he is protecting you from yourself by keeping you here.”

She snorted. “Huh. So he doesn’t want to talk?”

Tony thought she almost sounded a little disappointed. Before he could hear the response, he swallowed the remaining contents of his glass, then went back upstairs. He entered the room. “Hey, you hungry?”

The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she stared at him suspiciously. “Is this a trick?”

He shook his head, and held up his hands in mock surrender. She shrugged, and got up to follow him. He had been planning to bring some food up to her, but if she was willing to talk, then that was even better. He tried to start the conversation as they walked. “So, what’s your name?” 

She looked startled for a moment before getting a blank look on her face. Tony felt a little jealous. He had yet to perfect the art of not showing off his emotions. “Ava.”

They stepped into the elevator. “Do you have a last name?”

She snorted. “Nope.”

Tony glanced down at her, and took in her appearance. She had some scrapes and bruises, and her hair was all over the place. Her clothes were a little dirty, too, but it was easy to see that they were expensive. Tony had an eye for costly things. “What do you want?”

He pretended not to notice as she looked up at him through thick eyelashes. She had such a shocked and innocent look, like no one had done something so simple as ask her what she wanted to eat before. He felt uncomfortable again at the thought that maybe she hadn’t. Ava shrugged. “I don’t care. Whatever’s the least amount of trouble, I guess.”

They walked in awkward silence towards the kitchen. Tony gestured for her to take a seat in one of the barstools. She had pull herself up a little bit, the way that small children would climb up. He had been planning on ordering some take out or something, but when he heard her stomach growl, he knew that would be too slow. 

And based on the way her clothes hung off of her, she could definitely use some food. He opened the fridge and pulled out some eggs and milk, and then turned on the stove. After he had cracked the eggs in a bowl and whisked them together with a few other things, he popped a couple pieces of bread into the toaster, and pulled out another package from the fridge. He heard the sound of a smothered giggle, and turned around.

Ava’s shoulders were shaking. As much as it annoyed him to be the butt of whatever joke was going through her mind, he was relieved to see that she was actually capable of smiling. He pretended to sound offended. “What’s so funny?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I just never expected the invincible Iron Man to be so… domestic.”

Tony rolled his eyes, and turned back to the stove. Once everything was prepared, he divided all the food between two plates. He set one down in front of Ava, and left the other in front of himself. She glanced down at the food then back at him. He sighed overdramatically, and put a forkful of eggs in his mouth. That seemed to convince Ava that it was okay, and she followed suit. 

He watched as she took tiny mouthfuls, and nibbled at the toast and bacon. She pushed the plate away after a few minutes, and it looked practically untouched. Tony had a feeling that it wasn’t petulance so much as she was actually full. Which was really rather sad. So instead of lecturing her about not wasting food, he pulled her plate forward and finished off what was left.

Her mouth opened a little in surprise. She grumbled under her breath, “Domestic and a pig.”

And Tony couldn’t help chuckling at that. She slid back onto her bare feet, and Tony took in the sight of her ragged clothes. He wanted to give her something cleaner to wear, but even Pepper’s stuff would be too big on the child. But at least they would be closer than his own. “Hey, do you want to borrow some clean clothes or something?”

For a moment she looked tempted, but then Ava shook her head. “Nah, it would be a waste of your nice clean clothes to be on a dead body.”

Tony shook his head. It was definitely for her protection to keep her here. And considering her last attempt, he decided it would be safer to stick to the lower floors of the tower. “Want to watch a movie or something?” Ava shook her head. “How about playing a game?”

Ava raised one eyebrow like she was daring Tony to suggest one more thing. Geez, he would have to learn where girls got taught that look, because Pepper had it down pretty well too. “How about a board game?”

The side of Tony’s mouth quirked up. She wasn’t serious, was she? No one played board games anymore. And he had way better games to play, on a console he had invented and perfected himself. “How about a virtual board game?”

Ava shrugged. “There’s literally no point to a board game that has no board.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fine, a board game it.” He pulled out his Stark phone, and quickly looked up the number to the closest toy store. He called, and only had to wait a few rings before it was answered.

“Ringo’s Games and More, how may I help you today?”

Tony glanced over at Ava, and she was staring at him, a smirk plastered on her face. “Uh, yes, hi, I was wondering if you have any good old fashioned board games?”

“Of course, sir. Was there any game in particular that you were searching for?”

He looked at Ava. Her peculiar green eyes seemed to be laughing at him. Well, if they were going old fashioned, they might as well go with the classic board game. “Monopoly.”

The clerk stifled a laugh. “Of course, we have several different themed Monopoly games in stock-”

“Just the classic version will be fine.”

He started to give his address, but the clerk said that they don’t deliver. He finished giving the address, and the clerk was suddenly very eager to comply. Knowing that one was talking to Tony Stark was usually great motivation to do what was being asked of them. “There should be someone arriving with the game shortly.” Then Tony hung up, and looked at Ava.

She just shrugged. “I’m impressed. I almost expected you to insist we play a fake version on your computer.”

After a few minutes of silence, no less awkward than before, Jarvis announced that the guy from the game store had arrived. Tony answered the door, accepted the game, and gave the clerk a hundred dollars as a tip.

He held up the game. “Where do you want to play?”

Ava looked around, pretending like she had to think about it. But Tony could tell that she already had a destination in mind. “In there.” She pointed into the sitting room, with the lovely white carpet that matched the white couch. She marched in and threw herself down on the couch, wiggling around to get comfortable, and getting dirt on his designer couch in the process.

He sat down next to her, and pulled the coffee table closer. He tore off the packaging, then opened the box, and dumped out all of the pieces. “So, here’s the deal. At the end of each round, whoever rolled the higher amount on the dice gets to ask the other any question of their choice.” He saw Ava’s look, and quickly added, “And the one who was asked has to answer truthfully.”

Ava sighed, but her eyes glittered in amusement. “Fine. Let the games begin.” And Tony had the strange feeling that she was the one who was going to benefit most from this.


	3. Chapter 3

Ava looked over the little metal pieces as Tony sorted out the stacks of fake money. She wanted to look them all over carefully before choosing which piece she would use. After some consideration, she chose the dog. After Tony finished sorting the money into the plastic tray, he picked the race car with a chuckle. 

They rolled to see who would go first, and it was Ava. At the end of the round, she had rolled highest, so she got to ask the first question. She pointed to the glowing blue light that could be seen through Tony’s light tee-shirt. “What is that?”

“It’s a small arc reactor.” He saw her confused look, but didn’t elaborate. He wasn’t going to make this too easy by answering anything other than what was asked. She nodded. 

Next round, it was his turn to ask a question. He didn’t want to push his luck by asking something that she had already shot down. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

Tony gulped. There was no way she was sixteen. Though if he considered the fact that she seemed to not get a lot of food, maybe it was possible that she hadn’t grown as much as she was supposed to. Next round was Ava’s turn again. “How does the small arc reactor in your chest work?”

Tony was a little surprised that she was so interested. He explained the science behind the reactor, using as many huge scientific words as possible. She was nodding as he explained, instead of looking bored the way most people would. “So, did you get all that?”

Ava nodded. “The arc reactor goes whoosh,” she waved her hand in a circular motion, “and it keeps the debris out of your heart, and powers your suit.” Tony was impressed. Most people wouldn’t be able to understand anything he had just said, and she clearly got the gist of it. The next round was another question for Tony. “Have you been rich your whole life, or did you amass your fortune on your own?”

Honestly, Tony had expected simpler questions, like maybe about favorite colors or favorite foods. “My family has always been wealthy, however, I have added a great deal to the fortune on my own.” Tony got to ask the next question. “Why did you choose the dog?”

She shrugged. “I guess I thought I would prefer to be represented by an actual ‘living’ thing, rather than one of those other objects.” She got to ask the next question. “Why did you choose the car?”

“I once raced in the Grand Prix. So I guess it has the most symbolism, or whatever.”

Tony wondered how it was possible for Ava to keep getting all of the high rolls when she got to ask the next question as well. “When did you invent Jarvis?”

“Uh, it was a while ago. Maybe a few years after you were born.”

Ava laughed. “You don’t even remember when you first built the person that keeps track of everything for you?”

Tony frowned. “No, I didn’t have to build the person who keeps track of everything for me.”

Ava got the next question as well. “Who is the person who keeps track of everything for you, that isn’t Jarvis?”

Tony smiled. “My… personal assistant Pepper Potts.”

Ava raised one eyebrow. The next round was also her question. “Is Pepper actually your assistant's name?”

Tony laughed. He couldn’t believe that she would waste her questions on such trivial things. Most people would give an arm and a leg to be able to be able to ask Tony Stark any questions that they could think of, knowing he would answer truthfully. Well, Ava had almost given her life, so it was kind of fair. “No, her real name is Virginia.”

Next round, Ava got to ask another question. “Then why do you call her Pepper?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. It was kind of a joke between us at first, but then it kind of stuck, and everyone starting calling her Pepper, and it just kind of became her name.”

Next round, Tony finally got a chance to ask a question. “Why are you so interested in my personal assistant?”

Ava frowned. “I don’t really have anything better to ask.” Tony accepted that answer. He wondered for a moment if Monopoly always took so long to play. It was Ava’s turn again. “What’s your most top secret project that you’re working on?” Tony raised his eyebrows so high he thought they might disappear into his hairline. She laughed. “I’m just kidding, geeze. What movie would you have suggested if I had agreed to watch a movie?”

Tony shook his head. “I have no idea.”

Next turn, Ava got to ask the question. “Have you been paying more attention to the game or the questions?” 

Tony shrugged. “I don’t really know. Why?”

She shook her head. “I would say that you can’t ask a question because you didn’t roll highest, but,” Tony looked down as she moved a few pieces around. “I win, so there are no more rounds.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. He hadn’t lost a game, of any sort, in a very long time. Before he could say anything that would make him sound like a sore loser, Jarvis spoke. “Sir, there is a call coming in for you from Ms Potts.”

Tony stood up. “Ava, will you go wait in the kitchen or something?” She got up without argument. “Jarvis, put the call on the screen.” The face of the red head filled the blank screen. “So, how’s Paris?”

Pepper frowned. “I’m afraid that there’s been a few complications. I don’t think I’ll be getting home until next week.” Tony watched as her eyes focused on the dirty couch in the background. “That’s my couch. You got dirt on my couch.”

Tony grinned sheepishly. “Maybe I should hire a maid or something.”

Pepper’s lips pressed together tightly. “Knowing you, it would be one very sexy maid. I’m afraid I can’t allow that. You’ll just have to program your robots to clean up after you, or better yet, clean up after yourself.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He frowned. “Hey Pep, do you think I’m a responsible person?”

Pepper’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “I suppose so, occasionally you can be responsible. Why?”

He shrugged. “No reason.”

She sighed tiredly. “Okay, Tony. Well, I have to go, negotiations are going to reopen in a bit, and I want to be prepared. I might not get a chance to talk to you for a while, but I’ll see you next week, okay? I love you.”

Tony smiled. “I love you too,” and the call ended. He went into the kitchen, but Ava wasn’t there. “Jarvis, where’s Ava?”

“She is in your basement workshop, Sir.”

Tony frowned. No one could get in there, Jarvis was unable to open the door without Tony’s permission. He took the elevator down, and went inside. Ava was sitting in his favorite swivel chair, spinning around in dizzying circles. This girl, who clearly had a strong grasp on technology, was sitting in his workshop full of highly coveted secrets, and she was playing in the swivel chair. If this was the next generation, then Tony was concerned about the future of the world.

He grabbed the back of the chair, and the spinning came to an abrupt end. “How did you get in here?”

Ava shrugged. “I asked Jarvis.”

The AI spoke. “Sir, I’m afraid she somehow used an override on my system.”

“But that’s impossible,” Tony muttered under his breath. He decided that he would focus on that later. Ava seemed full of surprises, and that was refreshing. “So, I’ve been thinking. Earlier, you told me that I need to take responsibility, and I think you’re right?”

She looked shocked. “You do? So you’re going to kill me?”

Tony sighed. “No. I’m going to have you stay here, for as long as it takes for me to be convinced that you would be safe on your own. You’ll have plenty of food and entertainment, and you can pick any of the guest rooms to sleep in.”

Ava wrinkled her nose. “What? I don’t understand.”

Tony rubbed one hand over his face. “Neither do I. Ugh. Listen, I’m going to take care of you, okay? Just for now, until you can get back up on your feet.”

Ava felt emotions running through her. No one had ever wanted to take care of her before. No one had offered to let her choose what she wanted, to give her the proper amount of food. She could see that Tony had no experience in taking care of someone before, but that was okay. After all, she had no experience of being taken care of before, so she would have nothing to compare him to. She considered the offer. “Do I… do I have a choice?”

Tony frowned. “Well I’m certainly not going to let you go running around outside. You’re a danger to yourself. But everything in here,” he waved his hands to symbolize the entire tower, “is your decision. You can do what you want, as long as it isn’t dangerous or illegal.”

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “What about school? Are you going to tear me away from my education?”

Tony frowned again. “Of course not.” He sighed. “Well, I guess I could tutor you, or something. I am pretty smart, you know. And in exchange, you just have to promise that you'll try your best to get better.”

Ava stood up and held out her hand. Tony realized what she was doing, and he held out his own hand, they shook on it, and Ava smiled a little bit. “Deal.” And then they both stood there for a minute, wondering what the hell they had gotten themselves into.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony and Ava were both staring at each other stubbornly. Neither wanted to be the first to break the uncomfortable silence. It had only been three days since they shook hands, and they were already driving each other up the wall. Ava’s glare finally got Tony to speak first. “You already know why I can’t allow you to leave the tower. And we made a deal, so just suck it up.”

Ava pouted. “It’s a scientific fact that people need vitamin D, which comes from the sun.”

“So sit in front of a window.”

Ava shook her head. “I can’t get the proper amount of light I need from the first floor. You won’t let me go any higher!”

Tony frowned. “I can’t. You’re still a flight risk.”

Ava ground her teeth together. “You can’t keep me a prisoner here!”

Tony wasn’t backing down. “I’m very goddamn capable of it!”

They both glared at each other. It had been a simple request, Ava had just asked if she could take a walk around the block or something, and Tony had immediately blown up in her face. Ava pressed her lips together into a fine line, and then sighed. “How about we make a deal? You let me go on a walk, and I’ll answer one question of your choice, truthfully.”

That got Tony’s attention. After that Monopoly game on the first day, no matter how often Tony wheedled Ava for information about her life, she had always adamantly refused to tell him anything. “I go on the walk with you, and I can ask you two questions.”

Ava wrinkled her nose. “You can come on the walk with me and ask one question.”

Tony nodded. “Fine.”

“Fine.” They both stared at each other for a moment. “What’s your question?”

Tony had to think about it. This was a rare opportunity to learn more about his new house mate, and he didn’t want to waste it on something stupid. “I’ll ask you when we get back.”

Ava shrugged. “Fine.” He glanced at her clothes. It wasn’t really acceptable for a famous billionaire to walk around with someone wearing such silly looking clothes, but there was no helping it. Pepper’s things looked way too big on the small girl, and the formal power suits didn’t look right on her anyways, but the clothes that Tony had ordered specially for her wouldn’t arrive for another day or so.

He grabbed his jacket and a pair of sunglasses and slipped them on. Ava rolled her eyes. They stood in front of the door, and Ava frowned up at him. “Are you going to ask Jarvis to open the door or what?”

Tony was half afraid that as soon as they were outside she would dash off and hide somewhere, and that was more unacceptable than the clothes thing. “I know it wasn’t specifically said in our deal, but you have to hold my hand the entire time we’re outside.”

Ava’s eyes narrowed, but to Tony’s surprise, she didn’t argue. “Fine.” She reached up to grab his hand, and Tony gave the AI permission to open the door. They stepped outside, and Ava looked around. Tony saw the look of awe on her face, and he reminded himself that she had probably never seen a neighborhood like this before. 

She glanced in all directions before deciding on their destination. She tugged on Tony’s hand to pull him along with her, and he felt sort of like he was walking a dog. He let her lead, keeping a firm grip on her hand. Ava pulled Tony down the street, and they ended up several blocks away from the tower, though they were still close enough to see it shadowing the other buildings in the area. 

They finally stopped at a small park, after going down a small dirt path that was mostly hidden by a couple of buildings, and Tony was surprised. They were a good distance away from the bridge that Tony had found Ava falling off of, and he had assumed she lived near it. But he hadn’t considered that she had come from around here. But he wasn’t sure he wanted to use up his question on that, so he decided to wait.

She glanced up at him. “Are you going to get on the swings with me, too?”

Tony bit his lip, but decided that it wasn’t worth it to argue in the middle of this public area. Though there didn’t appear to be anyone else here. He let her hand slip out of his, and took a seat on the bench that was next to the playset. Right now was another one of those moments that made it hard to believe that Ava was sixteen. 

The girl sat down on one of the swings, and began pumping her legs. Once she had built up some momentum, Tony saw her slip her arms around the chains, putting them on the wrong side to hold them properly. He stood up. “Hey, stop that!”

But she didn’t listen. And before he had a chance to force the swing to a stop, she sprung off of it. She landed on her feet without stumbling, and made her way back to Tony. She had a refreshed look. She reached up and took his hand again. “Okay, I’m ready to go back now.”

Tony wanted to reprimand her, but he just began to lead the way back to the tower. Once they were inside, Tony saw the familiar luggage neatly stacked by the door. He looked around, and when the coast was clear, whispered in Ava’s ear. “Go to your room. Don’t stop for anything. Don’t come out until I tell Jarvis to send you out, okay?”

Ava nodded. She glanced around, and then did an amusing spy roll across the entrance hall. He watched as she smoothly crawled away, and he was now especially glad that she was in the only guest room on the first floor. It meant she had more time to get there before Pepper got everything up to their room.

He glanced up as the elevator slid open, and Pepper stepped out. She smiled at Tony. “I tried to call you earlier when I figured out I could take the next plane home, but my phone wasn’t working... “ She trailed off when she saw Tony’s slightly guilty look. “Tony? What’s wrong?”

He cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure how exactly he was planning on telling Pepper about Ava, but he had expected a few more days to think about it. “Pep, you know how there are some children who don’t have a home?”

Pepper frowned, unsure where Tony was going with this. “Yes…”

He nodded. “And you know how there is so much extra space here?”

Pepper’s eyes widened, and she groaned. “Tony, please do not say what I think you are about to say. Please don’t tell me what I think you are trying to say.”

Tony remained silent. So explaining wasn’t a winning strategy. Maybe he would just have to go with show and tell. “Jarvis, please tell Ava to get in here.”

“Right away, sir.”

After some awkward silence, he heard soft footsteps approaching. Pepper turned around to see the newcomer, and her eyes landed on Ava, who still looked years younger than she was and like she was being starved to death. She frowned at the older woman. “You must be Virginia.”

Pepper made a strange choking sound, and Tony coughed. She turned back to Tony with a glare. “I’m sorry, but who is she?”

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “She is the one who is staying here in the first floor guest room.” She looked over at Tony. “Seriously? You never told your own girlfriend that you were having a kid staying with you?”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “I never said that she’s-”

Ava waved one hand. “I’m not stupid. However, I don’t think that the same can be said of you. Now I’m hungry, go make me some lunch.”

Tony sighed. “What have I told you about making demands?” Ava looked up at him pleadingly, and he sighed in defeat. “Fine. Just don’t kill each other while I’m gone.”

As soon as he was out of sight, the two women looked at each other, sizing each other up. Pepper sighed. “Listen, I don’t mean to sound so cold, but it’s my job to worry about him, and if you’re here to steal something-”

Ava laughed. “Ha. That would imply that I’m free to go whenever I want.”

Pepper frowned. “What do you mean?”

Ava shrugged. “Tony’s really strict about it. He won’t even let me go up to the second floor without ‘adult supervision’. I think he’s scared I might pick a window and jump out of it.”

“Why?”

The girl shrugged again. “You haven’t heard about how we met. To make a short story shorter: I jumped off a bridge, Tony caught me, and now he’s taking care of me.”

Pepper sighed. “Oh.” She hadn’t really dealt with children before, but Ava seemed very mature. Then she grinned wickedly. “I wish I had seen his face the first time you got into an argument. Priceless. You know, I’ve always thought of giving him something to make him more responsible, but I was think more along the lines of a plant, or a goldfish, not a human being.”

Tony came back with a plate in each hand. “Lunch is served.”

Ava took hers, and took it to the kitchen, where she could sit down and gobble it up. He handed the other to Pepper, but she declined. “Tony, what were you thinking, taking in some random kid? She could be anybody.”

Tony shrugged. “She’s already had access to my basement workshop, but she didn’t take anything and run. She could of, but she didn’t. Because she needs to someone to watch over her, and she knows it. But it’s actually great that you’re back, because now you can help watch her…”

Pepper laughed. “Tony, you’re the one who decided to adopt a child. You didn’t even consult me on this. She’s your responsibility now. If she does anything to try to hurt you or the company, I'll insist on interfering, but otherwise I think she’ll be good for you, if she really is just a kid who needs some help.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I think so too.” Both adults wandered into the kitchen. Ava was standing to the left of the doorframe, pressed flat against the wall.

As soon as the couple stepped into the room, she jumped out at them. “Boo!” Pepper jumped, startled, but Tony forced himself not to react.

“Seriously, Ava? I already told you that it’s a bad idea to try to scare a guy who has been through so much. You could end up regretting it.”

She grinned. “I wasn’t trying to scare you, I was trying to scare Virginia. She’s new, so she needed at least one scare.”

Tony frowned. “Why are you calling her Virginia?”

Ava shrugged. “You said that’s her name, right?”

Pepper snorted, and Tony rolled his eyes. “Geez, I’m going to have to start giving you access to the other floors before you go stir crazy and find something even more stupid to do.”

Ava laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to help much. I have a feeling that I will get on your nerves a lot.”

Tony shook his head. “Unfortunately, I have the same feeling.”


	5. Chapter 5

It had been four months since Tony had caught Ava and taken her in. Time really seemed to fly by. She was tugging on his hand, urging him to hurry up. “Come on, hurry, it’s a life or death situation, you have to hurry up!”

Tony ran behind her, and she yanked him into the common room on the first floor of the tower. The lights suddenly got switched on, and Tony blinked in the sudden light. Pepper was standing behind the coffee table, a grin on her face. Tony looked down at Ava in confusion. “What’s going on? I thought this was an emergency.”

Ava looked at him, biting her lip. She gestured to what was sitting on the table. Tony’s eyes widened as he took in the lopsided cake, frosting messily applied to cover the whole thing. On the top, in loopy icing, was ‘Happy Birthda’. Ava blushed when she saw him look at the lack of lettering. “Sorry, there wasn’t enough room for the y.”

Tony didn’t know what to say. He could get a thousand dollar birthday cake made by the top bakers in the world. He looked up at Pepper, and she shrugged. “Ava made this all on her own.”

Ava looked up at him hopefully. “May 29, right?” When he still didn’t say anything, she looked disappointed. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have just let Virginia get you something, she knows your tastes better, but I just thought-” She was cut off by Tony pulling her into a tight hug.

He couldn’t say anything. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for him. Pepper had always gotten him cakes and gifts on his birthday, of course, and they were all carefully chosen just for him, but she had plenty of means at her disposal, and it had sort of been part of her job description.

But this, Ava had done this completely selflessly. She wasn’t the type to accept help when offered, so she had probably done it all on her own. And she also wasn’t the type who probably already knew how to make a cake. He stepped out into the hallway, and went into the kitchen. Ava ducked her head as Tony looked in.

There was a cookbook propped up on the counter between a glass bowl and a blender, and there was flour and sticky chocolate and other unidentifiable things making a mess of the once tidy room. Ava frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make such a mess, I’ll clean it up later, I-” Tony pulled her into another hug.

He knew that he had to say something, anything really, before Ava decided that he didn’t even like her. He gulped. Tony had never been big on sharing his feelings. But sometimes, actions and thoughts just weren’t enough to get the message across. “Ava, thank you.” His voice broke. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”

Ava stepped back, and rubbed her reddening eyes. Tony was gentlemanly enough to not mention what looked like tears gathering. She just shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, do you want some cake, or what?”

Tony laughed, and followed her back to the other room, where they had left Pepper. She was currently cutting the oddly shaped confection into slices. Tony glanced at the younger girl. “How did you know when my birthday is? I mean, even I forget about it sometimes.”

She smiled. “I asked Jarvis.”

Tony shook his hand in mock anger towards the ceiling. “You traitor.”

Ava laughed. “He said that you’re turning forty-six, is that true?”

Tony frowned. “Hey, isn’t it impolite to ask someone their age, especially on their birthday?” She gave him that look of hers, with the wide eyes and pouty mouth, and he sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s only fair, since I know how old you are. Yes, it’s true, and I am most likely going to have my midlife crisis soon.”

Pepper giggled. “Soon? Darling I think your midlife crisis came about four months ago, in the form of one feisty teenage girl.”

Ava raised one eyebrow. “So you finally acknowledge that I’m not still in middle school?”

Pepper shrugged. “It’s Tony’s birthday, and he believes you, so my present to him is that I will also believe you.” She handed a plate of cake to Tony, and he eagerly accepted. He put a forkful in his mouth, and grinned. He had eaten much tastier foods before, but there was something about this that was special, and he couldn’t imagine anything better. 

Ava jumped up before she even had one bite, as if she just remembered something. “Wait right here, I have to go get something!”

She ran off, back to her room, Tony presumed. He glanced at Pepper with amusement, and she shrugged. “If the kid has made you a card or something, she hasn’t told me.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’ll be giving you your present tonight.” And she grinned suggestively.

After a few minutes, Tony was startled out of his thoughts by Jarvis. “Sir, I believe that you should be made aware that Ava is in the elevator right now, with a set destination above the ten floors that you’ve granted her access to.”

Tony frowned. They had worked out a reward system, where if Ava was good, she would gain floors that she had access to, and if she was bad, she would lose floors. Even after all this time she had only worked her way up to the tenth floor. What could be so important that she would break the rules? And he didn’t even bother asking how. He had accepted a long time ago that she could do things that he didn’t quite understand, but just like everything else about her, she refused to talk about it.

“Jarvis? What floor is she going to?”

“The roof, Sir. And she asked me to relay a message. She wants you to venture to the fourteenth floor, and I quote, ‘watch the windows’. Ms Potts too.”

The couple glanced at each other, but neither knew what this was about. Reluctantly, they headed to the fourteenth floor, wary of what would be awaiting them. When they got to that floor, Tony frowned again. This was one of those floors that hadn’t been deemed immediately necessary to put anything in after the repairs, so it was just a large empty space, with giant bay windows.

Tony still didn’t know why Ava had sent them here. He went closer to the windows, and Pepper followed a few feet behind him. They stared at the glass for a few minutes. Just before they were about to turn away and head to the roof, there was a blur of something falling past the window, and Tony gasped.

He was about to dart away and grab his suit and hope he wasn’t too late, but Pepper grabbed his arm to stop him from going. He looked again. It wasn’t a person that had fallen, it was a sign. He looked at it in awe. Ava had never mentioned that she could draw. But this was amazing. It placed the words, ‘Happy Birthday Tony Stark’ over the next building in fancy letters, and he realized that even the buildings he was seeing in the background were part of the drawing. It was amazing, because other than the out of place letters, everything else looked exactly the same as any other time he looked out the window.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes Sir?”

“Where is Ava now?”

Jarvis’s voice sounded strangely emotional. “Right behind you, Sir.”

Tony and Pepper both spun around, and saw Ava stepping off the elevator. She glanced out the window at her display, and smiled. “Do you like it?”

He laughed. “Like it? Are you kidding me? It’s amazing.”

Ava grinned. “I’ve been working on it for a while now. I had to make sure that I got the angles and stuff exactly right. Nothing but the best for Tony Stark, right? Happy birthday.”

Tony walked over to Ava and pulled her into the third hug of the day. Considering they had only shared a couple hugs before in their entire time together, it was a little strange to hug so many times in one day. But nice. He kissed the top of her head, and then stepped back to scold her. “All the way up on the roof? That’s very bad.”

She shrugged. “Whatever. Leave me with only the first floor, I don’t mind. It was worth it.”

Tony was a little choked up, so he didn’t say anything else. He couldn’t even begin to express the fact that this was his best birthday ever.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony stood out on his balcony, the one that was connected right to his and Pepper’s bedroom. He was leaning forward with his elbows on the railing. Pepper was out at some business meeting, and she probably wouldn’t be home until much later. He wanted to talk to Ava, to thank he for her gifts, but she hadn’t left her room all day, and Tony knew better than to enter a teenager’s bedroom without permission.

He craned his neck to see the mural that the girl had made, but he was at the wrong angle for it to look right. It somehow only worked if it was being viewed from the fourteenth floor. He wondered if she had even been able to check it out herself from the proper level, or if she just winged it.

Tony sighed. He wondered if Ava was avoiding him for some strange reason. He wished for a moment that she was still in the guest room on the first floor, because that would make it much easier to accidentally bump into her. But she had moved to the large living quarters on the third floor months ago. He was a little worried. “Jarvis, where’s Ava?”

The smooth AI’s voice responded instantly. “She is in her room.”

“Is she alright?”

There was a short pause. “She is uninjured.”

Tony glared up at the ceiling of his room. He stepped back inside so he could have a better angle to glare from. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing, she is not hurt.”

Jarvis’s voice sounded strange, and Tony didn’t like it. He didn’t care if it was intruding on her privacy, he wasn’t going to sit around if something happened. He got into the elevator and took it down to the third floor. He stepped into the living room, which had three small apartments branching off from it. He went straight, and knocked on the door to Ava’s rooms.

There was a grumpy sounding response. “What?”

Tony sighed. “I just wanted to make sure everything’s okay.” He stood silently, but couldn’t hear anything from behind the door that caught his attention.

“Everything’s fine.”

But she sounded too upset for everything to be fine. He grabbed the doorknob, but the door was locked. “Jarvis, open the door.”

“Sir, I’m afraid I cannot comply.”

Tony was contemplating kicking the door down. This was worrisome behavior, when both his AI and his kid were lying to him. He froze and his eyes widened in shock. Did he seriously just mentally call Ava his kid? He frowned. Nobody was going to let him in, and it would be rash of him to actually take the door down with force.

He went down to the first floor, and poured himself a glass of scotch. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was one in the afternoon, so he could justify this. He wasn’t drinking in the morning. He frowned into the glass.

A few weeks ago, Ava had caught him drinking, and she had given him this big disapproving frown. When she saw him drinking again the next day, she crossed her arms over her chest and confronted him. She asked him if he would be okay with her drinking all the time, and he said of course not. She just smirked and walked away. And he realized that he hadn’t a drink since then, at least not outside of company, of course.

He put the glass down after only a sip, and sighed. He went into the kitchen and pulled out the leftover cake from yesterday. He cut himself a slice and ate it slowly, savoring the taste. He wasn’t aware of the turmoil Ava was going through, just two floors above him.

She peered into the full length mirror by her closet for the thousandth time. But there was no mistaking that there was something wrong with her eyes. She had thought maybe she was dreaming, but when she woke up from a nap, the problem remained. 

“Jarvis…” She had been hesitant to directly ask the AI, because she wasn’t sure that she wanted to hear the answer. But Tony was probably hurt that she wasn’t talking to him, so she wanted to resolve that as soon as possible. “What would you say is wrong with my eyes? If you were to take a guess.”

“Well, it appears as though there is some optical illusion that is making you believe that you see tiny microchips in your eyes.”

Ava couldn’t help snapping at him in her frustration. “I know that much! Can you make it go away?”

The accented voice sounded apologetic. “I’m afraid that I am not capable of that.”

She groaned, and flopped onto her bed. It wasn’t anymore comfortable than her room at the Bench’s, other than the fact that she knew it was all unconditionally hers, and Tony would never just neglect her. She stared up at the small patch of pink that looked out of place in the pale blue ceiling. She grinned at the memory.

Could anyone really blame her for being curious about what would happen if one were to make a bottle rocket with an actual engine? It had gone right through the ceiling, and she had lost two floors just for that. The whole giving and taking floors thing was a little strange, but Ava had nothing to compare it to to prove definitively that it was a bad way to raise someone.

“Jarvis? What do you think Tony and Virginia would do if they saw my eyes looking like this?” Before he could say anything, she added, “And don’t give me any percents or anything, you know how much I hate those.”

There was a brief pause. “Well, I believe that Master Stark would be deeply fascinated, while Miss Potts would be slightly afraid.”

Ava frowned. “Oh.” She rolled over to stare at the wall. Then she rolled over the other way restlessly. She couldn’t take much more of this. Ever since she had woken up this morning she had noticed the problem with her eyes, and it had yet to go away. Ava furrowed her eyebrows as she remembered some vague memory.

It was from a while ago, several years at least, and she had been standing awkwardly in front of her parents as they openly stared at her. Margie told her that if anything unusual were to happen again, she should tell them immediately. And even then they hadn’t cared for their daughter, so it must have been important.

She rolled onto her back again so Jarvis would be able to hear her clearly. “Jarvis? I’m going to give you a number to dial. But you have to promise not to tell Tony.” She cleared her throat. “I mean it. There are two people in the universe who can shut you down, and I’m one of them. Don’t incur my wrath.”

“Of course.”

“Good.” She gave Jarvis the number to call. After a few rings, the call was answered. 

Ava recognized her mother’s voice, though she had never heard it sound so bleary before. “Hello?”

Ava cleared her throat again. For a moment she thought she was going to revert back to that meek girl who never spoke up for herself. But she made her voice strong. “Mother. I need to speak to you on important matters.”

Margie sounded more alert almost immediately. “Where are you? What’s happened?”

The woman almost sounded worried. So Ava gave in and began to explain, at least some of the past four months. Jarvis couldn’t break his promise to Ava, he couldn’t mention the phone call. But that didn’t stop him from digging through all records associated with the number and digging up everything he could. He spoke to Tony, who was still downstairs. 

“Sir? I believe I may have found some information on Ava.”

Tony looked up with interest. “Show me on the big screen.” There were several newspaper articles. He looked closer. One was about a grant for some school, and one of the students in the black and white photo was Ava, though she was in the background with her head drooped down.

Another was about a Mr Stan Bench getting a patent passed off. Tony’s eyes skimmed the grainy lines, and some words stuck out more than others. The next article was from much further back. Mrs Bench had a sour look on her face, and the article was about how the heir to the Carpid empire was incapable of having any children. The last article was about the sudden isolation of the Bench’s, and how they continued to attend many parties, but never spoke of themselves of their personal lives.

Tony was a little surprised. He had dealt with the Carpid corporation in the past, and they had always struck him as the type to plaster themselves over the press if they could. But these people barely hit the papers at all considering how famous they were. He sighed. “Are these… her parents? How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know, Sir. All I know is that there is a connection. It’s your job to figure out what the connection is.”

Tony frowned. “Fine then. I will.”


	7. Chapter 7

Ava’s eyes widened as she twisted her head uncomfortably to get a look at the space behind her. Her voice came out as a whisper. “Jarvis? I’m not just imagining this, am I?”

The AI responded with what sounded like confusion. “If you are referring to the large wings protruding from your back, then I’m afraid you are not just imagining them.”

Ava gulped. “Oh.” She wiggled her shoulders, but though she could feel the new additions, they didn’t seem to weigh anything. She spun around, and cringed, expecting something to crash to the floor. But nothing did. She frowned, and whipped her body to the wall. Instead of crashing into her mirror, they went right through it, and she didn’t even feel a thing. 

Her wings were beautiful, in many ways. They were large, when she stretched them out all the way, they had a wingspan of about fifteen feet. They were a glossy black, like her hair, though with a strange green tinge to them, and covered in rows of pretty feathers. When she felt them, they were softer than the softest animals. 

Upon closer inspection, Ava realized that she could see the outline of her dresser through the wings. “Jarvis, why did they go through the mirror if I can touch them fine?”

“I believe that they are holograms. However, that doesn’t explain how you can touch them. I apologize, but I’ve never encountered something like this before.”

Ava flapped the new wings experimentally a few times. There was no whoosh of air behind her, and nothing was knocked over. But her feet lifted off the ground almost an inch. “Jarvis, where’s Tony?”

“He is currently in his workshop in the basement.”

Ava grinned. “Good. Tell me if that changes.” She left her room and ran to the main room. There was a large balcony overlooking the first and second floor. If these wings were for real, she would fly down there. Worst case scenario, she ends up with a couple broken bones. Small chance of actually dying, but Tony didn’t need to know about this until she tested it out properly.

She climbed up onto the railing, took a deep breath, and felt the butterflies tumbling around her stomach. She bent her legs, and sprang off. She flapped her wings right away, and they caught the air around her. After a few flaps, she was hovering in the air, a huge grin on her face. This was definitely a success. She began to fly around, grateful for the tall ceiling, her hair streaming behind her. Her muscles weren’t tiring, since she was still in such good shape, and she kept going for hours. She did a final loop, then stopped to catch her breath.

“Jarvis, did you see that?”

A familiar female voice answered. “How-?”

Ava spun around, and saw Pepper on the ground, staring up at the sight with wide eyes. The girl wasn’t quite sure how to use her new wings, but she managed to get lower to the ground. She wished that they would disappear, and they did, letting her fall the last few feet. “Virginia, I thought you weren’t supposed to be home until later.”

Pepper had seen a lot of amazing things in her life, things that most people would never believe possible. But she had never thought she would ever see something so beautiful. Ava’s face had looked so calm, so free, and with those gorgeous wings, Pepper almost thought the girl was just going to fly away. “You looked like an angel.”

Ava blushed. “I, uh,” she sighed. “I have no idea how that just happened, but it was amazing.” She cleared her throat. “How was that meeting?”

Pepper was just staring at her. Seeing Tony fly around in his suits was nothing compared to what she had just witnessed. She frowned as she peered behind Ava and saw only empty space. “Where did they go?”

Ava wasn’t sure what exactly Pepper was thinking. But flying around like that had been exhilarating. When she had jumped off that bridge, she had felt like she was flying, but it had only lasted a moment. This, this could last forever, if she wanted it to.

The wings reappeared in a blink, and Pepper stepped around Ava to look at them more closely. She reached out hesitantly to feel the plush looking feathers, but to her surprise, her hand passed right through it. She gasped. “They’re not real?”

Ava shrugged. “They certainly feel real when I do this.” She flapped as hard as she could, and was able to take off without dropping first. They didn’t create any wind to mess up Pepper’s perfectly done up hair, and she shot up. When she was higher, she grinned down at the woman. “Would a hologram be able to do that?”

Jarvis finally spoke, a sense of urgency in his voice. “Master Stark is stepping off the elevator now.”

Ava’s eyes widened. How would she explain this… whatever this was… to Tony, when she didn’t even know what it was yet? The elevator doors slid open, and Tony stepped onto the balcony area. He looked over at Ava, one eyebrow raised questioningly. His first thought was that maybe she built a pair of working wings. But his eye for detail caught the way the wings were attached to her back, and that was definitely not any device.

She glanced down, and Tony followed suit. He saw Pepper standing there, looking dazed. He cleared his throat. “Um… I know that there’s probably some very simple and obvious explanation, but I’m a little lost. What’s…” He waved his hands to gesture to everything. “...going on?” Ava coughed. She flew over to the balcony and landed, her wings disappearing. Tony’s eyes widened. “Did your eyes just…?”

Ava shrugged. “Yeah, I uh, I think so. Listen, I don’t really understand it myself, that’s the truth. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. When I woke up this morning, my eyes were… different than usual, and then I discovered these.” The wings reappeared so she could wave them around, and then they were gone again.

Tony nodded, trying to stay calm. Whatever this was, it was absolutely fascinating. He didn’t want to scare the girl away before he got a chance to study this matter further. “And you didn’t tell me before flying around my atrium because…?”

She blushed. “Well, I had to jump off the balcony to get the proper speed, or something. That was only a little while ago, but I can already take off from the ground. Want to see?” Tony nodded wordlessly. He watched as those wings reappeared, and she slowly rose into the air, then landed again. Ava turned around and offered her back to Tony, like she knew that he wanted a closer look.

He reached out to touch the wings, but his hands slipped right through them, and it felt like he was simply touching air. He peered closer, and noticed that he could see the outline of his hand through the wing. Like it was a hologram or something. Yet they were real enough to allow Ava to fly. Fascinating.

She almost collapsed right where she was standing, but managed to catch her balance. Ava stumbled a little, looking exhausted, and before Tony could think about it, the girl somehow ended up in a chair rather than in a pile on the floor. He could see right through the chair, and when he tentatively put his hand forward, it went right through the furniture. Another hologram. 

Ava shook her head. “Sorry. It’s just, this is all so much. I think I just realized that I was flying. I was actually literally flying. How is that even humanly possible?”

Tony shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I’ve never seen anyone grow holographic wings and fly around on them before.”

As soon as Ava stood up, the chair was gone. She tilted her head. “Interesting.” She held out one hand, and a cookie suddenly appeared. It was see through. Tony wanted to swat her hand away as she reached up to bite the snack, but he was also curious. She bit in, and he heard the crunch, and watched her chew and swallow.

She held out the cookie, and Tony reached for it. As soon as it stopped touching her hand, it disappeared. “Huh.” Another cookie appeared, and again, as soon as it stopped touching her, it disappeared. “This is…”

Ava’s eyes widened as she got an idea. She needed to test out all the possibilities of this new discovery. She pushed past Tony and got into the elevator. “Sorry, got to go, I’ll see you later!” And the doors slid shut.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony felt just as shocked as Ava about everything that was happening. He sighed, and asked Jarvis to summon the elevator again. The AI complied, and Tony went down to the first floor, where he found Pepper still standing in exactly the same spot as before. She still looked entranced by what she had just seen, and if Tony hadn’t seen some of the classified shit that he had before, then he would probably be just as mesmerized by everything. 

He reached out and put a hand on Pepper’s shoulder. When she turned around, there were tears running down her face. He pulled her into a hug, and her shoulders began to shake. “Tony…” She was sobbing, and Tony wasn’t sure what to do. “I just… after all this time, I’ve started to think of Ava as ours. But now… I’ve been reminded that we have no idea who she really is or where she is from. She won’t be ours forever, Tony.”

He tightened his arms around the red head. He hadn’t realized that their feelings were so similar. He had also begun to think of Ava as theirs, but he at least knew a little more about her than Pepper did. But he didn’t want to seem like he had gone around the girl’s back after she had made it obvious that she didn’t want him to dig up anything on her.

“Pep… I don’t know what to do. No one’s ever taught me how to take care of a kid. My own father certainly left much to be desired in that department. I’m pretty sure he cared more about the ice princess with a shield than about me.”

Pepper shook her head, though she didn’t deny his words. Who was she to say that Howard Stark had been a good father? She had never known the man, and Tony had never had anything good to say about him. “Tony, it doesn’t matter what your father did. You’re not him, and right now there is a little girl who needs you, even if she hasn’t quite realized it yet.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” He went back to the elevator, and took it down to the basement workshop. After Ava had shown interest in his inventions, he had had an additional room added to be her workshop, and since it was located in the basement, she would never lose privilege to visit it, since the first three floors (four if the basement was counted as a floor) were a permanent space for Ava.

He saw that the door was flung open, and he stepped inside. He heard the loud clang of metal hitting cement, and saw Ava rummaging through a set of drawers on wheels. She was tossing stuff behind her haphazardly, and Tony had to duck to avoid a flying wrench. “Hey!”

She turned around distractedly. “Oh, sorry. I’m really busy, Tony, now’s not a good time.”

He frowned. “You’ve only been in here a couple minutes. How involved could you be in any of your projects?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Um, I don’t know where you’ve been for the past twenty minutes, but in case you haven’t noticed, I have freaking super powers! Don’t you know what this means?”

She peered up at him hopefully. Tony was racking his brain, but he couldn’t think of any reason that having super powers could ever be that much of a good thing. Also, he hadn’t really thought any of this through enough to formally recognize her as having super powers. It was just… a unique ability or something, nothing more. “What?”

Ava grinned. “I’m not useless anymore! I can help you, whenever you go off on secret superhero missions, I can come with you, and help you!”

Tony felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Ava…”

She looked so hopeful. And Tony felt awful. Did she really think of herself as useless? Because that was stupid. Of course she wasn’t useless. Just sticking around was enough, she didn’t need to prove her worth by obtaining super powers or anything. He almost thought that maybe she had engineered it all herself, but she had looked too shocked at the turn of events for it to just be acting.

“Isn’t this great, Tony?”

He sighed. There was no way for him to tell her that he didn’t want her on the team without hurting her feelings, no matter how many times he stressed that it would be for her own good. “Ava… I don’t think that that would be such a good idea. We still don’t know much of anything about your… about what you can do.”

Ava nodded. “You’re absolutely right. That’s why I need to experiment some more. Give me access to the roof.”

Tony frowned. “Why? You had an easy enough time finding it on my birthday.” But she looked up at him with those pleading eyes, and he sighed. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.” She shrugged.

The two made their way to the roof, standing in awkward silence on the elevator ride up. Once they were at the top, Tony followed Ava as she rushed to the railing at the very edge. “I know that these.. holograms seem to have unlimited endurance, but I don’t know the range.” She held up her hand, a holographic ball of string sitting on her palm. “And I know that as soon as I lose contact with whatever I made, it disappears, though I can easily make another. But what I don’t know is the range of my power. So I want to see now.”

She leaned forward and held her arm out over the rail. She held onto one end of the string, and let the rest fall. “Jarvis, how far down is the string?”

The computer answered. “It is currently brushing the sidewalk.”

Ava stepped back, and let go of the string. She hadn’t expected this all to end up being so easy. She decided that this power could be very fun. And she desperately wanted to aid Tony in his crime fighting ventures, but she knew that he was right, without knowing everything possible about her newfound abilities, there was no way it would be safe for anyone to allow her to fight.

But this power definitely had some possibilities that were worth looking into. She glanced over at Tony, trying to conceal the gleam in her eyes. He gulped. “Ava…? I really hope you aren’t planning to do anything… I don’t know… this power of yours could be dangerous…”

She shrugged off his worries with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it.” That just made him worry even more.

***

Tony stepped inside, and kicked off his shoes and loosened his tie. It had been a rough day keeping his company in check, and he just wanted to flop onto the couch and watch TV. He headed towards the couch, and then heard clicking on the hardwood floor. Was it Pepper home early? He turned around, and his mouth dropped open.

Pepper was not home early, of course she wasn’t, he should have known that. Instead of beautiful girlfriend, there was a goat standing there. It ducked it’s head, and he saw its objective instantly. He lunged forward, but the goat was quicker and closer, and scooped up one of his shoes with its scary goat mouth. 

He grabbed the thing by the neck, not even caring if he accidentally hurt it, or that it was animal abuse. The asshole had it coming by eating his shoe in the first place. Even as he wrestled around with the goat, it continued to chew on one half of his favorite shoes. 

He heard footsteps, and then a quiet snicker. He jumped up, taking in his rumpled suit, and shoelessness. Ava was standing there, a smirk on her face. Tony couldn’t help his pout. “Ava, what’s a goat doing in my tower?”

She shrugged. “I dunno.”

The annoying chomping resumed, and he tried to snatch the shoe away. Once again the goat was too quick, and it managed to dodge somehow. “Ava! Make it give me my shoe back!”

Ava laughed again. “Tony…” She was going to leave him hanging, but then she saw how ready he was to jump back into the fray with the goat, and she didn’t want to be treating any wounds later. Plus she had no idea what the other Avengers would think of Tony getting hurt by a goat, and she didn’t appreciate the thought of them laughing at him.   
She reached forward and pressed one hand against the goat. She murmured softly, but Tony could still make out the words. “Please, brother, he means no harm, and has no means of harming you. He only wishes for his shoe to be returned to him.”

The goat bleated and glared at Tony, but opened his mouth and let the torn up soggy loafer drop to the floor. Ava pulled her hand away with a smile. “There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

Tony frowned. “How did you do that?”

Ava laughed. “It’s a secret.” She lowered her voice. “But if you want me to tell you, you just have to convince the Avengers to let me join them.”

Tony shook his head. “I thought we already discussed this, at least a hundred times. Where did you get a goat anyways?”

Ava shrugged. “It’s amazing what you can find on the internet.”

Tony shook his head. He wasn’t sure that Ava would ever stop finding new ways to surprise him. He just wished she wasn’t being so stubborn about this whole superhero thing. It wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, and besides, he wasn’t going to expose her to unnecessary danger. Not so long as he was her parent.


	9. Chapter 9

Ava laughed, and Tony frowned. “Hey…” She covered her mouth, but her shoulders kept shaking, giving away her laughter. “I’m glad you’re so amused.” Tony grumbled.

Ava stood up and stretched, the grin still on her face. Tony pretended to be upset, but secretly it made him glad when Ava smiled. She deserved to be happy. Even if that meant keeping Frederick around. He had signed up to take care of a human child, not a goat. He didn’t see much of Frederick anymore, not since he ate another one of Tony’s shoes, and been banished to one of the empty rooms on the third floor.

Jarvis interrupted the conversation. “Sir, there is a call for you, from Director Fury.”

Tony glanced at Ava, who got a strange look on her face. “Erm, Ava, will you excuse me?” She nodded, so he got up and headed to the conference room on the nineteenth floor. He instructed the AI to put the call on the large screen. Fury’s face was suddenly filling the room, and he looked, well, furious.

“Stark. You’ve been avoiding my calls for the past two days. I know you said that you needed time away from the Avengers, but that was almost a year ago. Luckily for you, things have been relatively quiet, up until now. But we can’t ignore the growing threat.”

Tony sighed. He remembered how awkward that conversation had been, when he told Fury to count him out of anything Avengers related. It was too difficult to run a multi-billion dollar corporation, raise a teenager, and be a superhero. Plus he was pretty sure that the director of S.H.I.E.L.D would be pissed to discover exactly how much top secret information Ava was privy to. 

“What do you need?”

Fury’s frown deepened. “Well, as I’m sure you haven’t heard, since you’ve been ignoring me, there was an attack on headquarters, and it is no longer considered safe.”

Tony sighed. “So you want to meet in my tower.” It wasn’t a question, he knew that that was at least part of Fury’s motivation for calling him. “What else?”

“It’s too dangerous to talk out in the open like this. You’ll be briefed with the rest of your team. They are already headed to your location, and should be there within the ten.” Then the screen went black as Fury hung up.

Tony’s eyes widened. Less than an ten minutes? There wasn’t enough time to get Ava somewhere else, and remove all signs of her from where the Avengers would be able to see. He rushed back downstairs, and saw that Ava was flopped on the white couch, a bucket of popcorn in one hand as she held the television remote in the other.

“Ava, I know this is going to sound a little odd, but I need you to gather all your things that are down here and bring them up to your room. Then I want you to stay there until I tell Jarvis to let you know you can come out.”

Ava frowned. She had a TV in her room, though a little smaller than this one, but that wasn’t really the issue. “You’re right, that does sound a little odd. Are you going to tell me why this is necessary?”

Tony shook his head slowly, and Ava stood up with a shrug. “Well, I have a ton of crap down here.”

“Then just grab your bag and get upstairs.”

“ I don’t unders-”

Jarvis spoke. “Sir, your guests will be here in approximately four minutes.”

Ava grinned. “Oh, you could have just told me.” She set the popcorn aside, and scooped up her bag which had been lying next to her on the couch. She slung the strap over her shoulder, and hurried past Tony, slipping into her shoes as she hurried past him. She got in the elevator, and Tony sighed with relief.

He looked around, and shook his head. Most of the random stuff lying around were things he could claim belonged to Pepper, if anyone even bothered to ask. He went into the kitchen, and frowned at the mess. He returned the deli meat and cheese to their proper places in the refrigerator, and spotted the stack of papers on the table.

Hopefully no one would look close enough to see that they looked like the algebra homework of a high school student. He furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced at the problems. They seemed pretty easy for an average student, but most of Ava’s answers were wrong. Well, he didn’t have time to worry about that right now. He would discuss the matter with her later.

“Sir, your guests have arrived and are at the door.”

Tony nodded tiredly. “Let them in and direct them to the conference room on the nineteenth floor.”

“Of course, Sir.”

He made his way up on the service elevator, which was much faster. He straightened his tie, shoved on a pair of shiny loafers, and sat at the head of the table, a bored expression fixed on his face. He watched as the Avengers filed in, and took their seats around the table. They all gave him funny looks, and he felt a little self conscious about that.

The screen turned on, and he saw the delightful sight of Fury on it again. “Now that we’re all gathered, it’s time to brief you on the latest threat to the world.” Tony rolled his eyes, but listened as Fury began talking.

Ava was sitting on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, who are Tony’s guests?” There was a pause, and Ava rolled her eyes. “Geez, he just doesn’t want me to meet them, and he said that he won’t tell me who they are. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t.”

Jarvis sighed, or made the closes sound possible for a computer. “His guests are the Avengers team, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and Thor.”

Ava gulped. “Oh.” She obviously knew who the Avengers were, but she had never thought that she would actually meet them in person before, not even with her constant wheedling. “Jarvis, show me the conference room.” She added, “Please?”

The TV screen on the wall across from her bed flickered on, and she saw all six impressive figures sitting around a large table, focusing on the scary looking guy. There was no audio. She watched with fascination. She wondered why they had never bothered Tony before now, but decided that it was unimportant. Then the guy on the screen held up a glossy photo, and it was some weird steampunk looking robot. Interesting.

After a few minutes, it looked like several of the Avengers were shouting at each other, and she felt a little uncomfortable. The fate of the world rested in the hands of a bunch of squabbling childish people. Then she grinned. This was a great photo opportunity. But she would need a picture of them up close to be completely authentic.

She rushed down the hall to the elevator and got in. “Nineteenth floor please, Jarvis.”

The elevator began to move. It made the usual ding when it stopped at the proper floor, and the doors slid open. Ava was clutching her holographic camera in one hand. It had better quality photos than most cameras, and they were somehow actually saved. She threw the door open to the conference room and snapped a picture before Tony could force her out.

It only took a second for all the heroes to register the intruder, and they all jumped up, their weapons drawn, in their fighting poses. Tony walked over to a small table and poured himself a glass of scotch. Ava stared calmly at the intimidating people. She didn’t want to push her like by trying to take another picture, so she made the camera go away.

She cleared her throat, and glanced at Tony, to see if he would back her. But he seemed intent to just sit back and enjoy the show, at least for now. She was pretty sure that if the situation escalated and violence was introduced, he would defend her. Well, now she finally got to meet the Avengers, the people she had been pestering Tony to introduce her to for months. She hoped that she wasn’t going to make too bad of a first impression. She cleared her throat again. “Um… Hi?”


	10. Chapter 10

The superheroes all stood, their weapons drawn, facing the small girl. She noted each of their weapons with fascination. She held out one arm, and was holding a holographic version of Thor’s hammer. Slung on her back was Captain America’s shield, and Hawkeye’s bow. Pretty neat. Now that she had made them for the first time, she would be able to recreate these holograms whenever she felt like it.

The heroes began to slowly approach her, and it felt a little threatening. She glanced over at Tony, and he was sipping his scotch, a reserved look on his face. Maybe copying their weapons was seen as a threat? She held up her hands in a peaceful gesture, her Mjolnir hanging from one of her belt loops.

“Woah, hey, I’m not a bad guy or anything.”

It looked like she was about to get smashed. Tony finally spoke up. “Guys, chill, she’s with me.”

The captain got a funny look on his face. “Isn’t she a little young for you, Stark? Or have things changed that much since my time?”

Ava and Tony made the same choking sound, almost simultaneously. Ava screeched. 

“EW! Gross! No!”

Tony also made sounds of protest. “That’s disgusting! Please never say anything like that again!”

The heroes backed off, but their guards were still raised. Natasha spoke. “So what are you doing here? How do you know him?” She nodded to Tony.

Ava shrugged. “I live here.”

Clint snickered. “Seriously? You have a kid? How did we never know about this? You are one of the most famous guys in the world, but I’ve never seen anything about you having a kid.”

Fury, whose face was still dominating the screen, got a thoughtful look. “Is this the reason you needed an extended leave? To babysit?”

Ava decided immediately that she didn’t like Fury. She could tell by glancing at Tony that he didn’t like the man very much either. Tony shrugged. But Fury wasn’t focusing on the billionaire. He was staring at Ava, his mouth wide open. He had just watched her make holograms of his team’s weapons, but that wasn’t so bad. They were just holograms. She had made an eyepatch just like his, and it was hanging around her eye. She had one hand on her hip, and was waggling the pointer finger on the other, while silently repeating Fury’s words in a mocking manner. That was just uncalled for.

Tony noticed as soon as Fury looked away from him, and began to chuckle. The other Avengers stared at the teenager in shock. It was like suicide to make fun of Nick Fury, who did she think she was? As soon as she realized that all eyes in the room were on her, she stopped. But the eyepatch stayed. 

Clint chuckled to himself. “Like father, like daughter, eh?”

She cleared her throat. “Right, well, not sorry about that.” She shook her head. “Err… I am very much regretting making fun of you. It has too much staring with it.”

Thor gestured at Ava’s hammer with his own Mjolnir. “How do you have my hammer? Is it sorcery of some sort?”

Bruce frowned, and pointed to the weapon. “You can see the floor right through it. It’s not real, it’s just a hologram of some sort, right?”

Ava laughed. “Right. It’s not real at all.” She sat down in the nearest chair, and the hammer hit the floor. It felt like the entire tower shook. Ava pretended to look shocked. “Oh… maybe it is real.”

Bruce stepped forward, pushing past the god, the captain, and the two assassins. He had been certain that it wasn’t real. Thor looked very puzzled. Bruce reached out cautiously, like he was afraid Ava would smash his hand or something. Then the other guy would come out, and that would cause a whole load of other problems.

Ava grinned. “I don’t bite.” She held out the hammer, and Bruce reached to grab it. But his hand slipped right through, just like he would have expected of a hologram. “I guess mine’s got more in common with Thor’s than I thought. He’s the only one who can pick up his, and I’m the only one who can pick up mine.”

Bruce frowned. “Incredible.” He muttered under his breath. He inched back to the spot where he had been standing before.

Fury looked annoyed that he was being ignored. “Well, as lovely as it’s been to meet you, there is a no civilians allowed during meetings rule.”

Ava pouted. “But I can help.” Tony rolled his eyes. “You guys saw what I can do. Ask me to make anything. Anything.”

Natasha frowned. “How about a house?”

Ava’s eyes narrowed. “Do you see the room for a house in here? If we were outside, maybe, but in here…”

Tony noticed Fury’s suddenly interested look. “Stark, I’m willing to overlook the fact that you’ve been ignoring my very important phone calls. If you bring the girl with you to Ruskin Labs.”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Why would I do that?”

Fury was still sore about Ava mocking him. He would just have to teach Tony a lesson in responsibility. His good eye gleamed. “Because if you don’t, I would be forced to lock her away in some S.H.I.E.L.D basement somewhere to discover how she can do what she can do.”

Tony looked horrified. “You can’t do that!”

Fury looked surprised. “You think it would be difficult to make a claim that she’s clearly dangerous?”

Tony growled his answer. “Fine, she can come with us.”

Ava jumped up. “Yes! This is awesome! I finally get to be a superhero!”

The other Avengers looked uncertainly at each other. They worked well as a team, and their dynamics were good. How much would all that get messed up by shoving some teen into their hands? Suddenly, there was a camera in Ava’s hands, and she was grinning. “Smile!” She snapped another photo, and then the camera was gone before anyone could wrestle her to the ground and try to take it.

She gave the heroes one last searching look, then bolted out of the room. She took the elevator back down to the third floor, and was jumping up and down as soon as she got into her room. “Did you hear that Jarvis? I’m going to be a real superhero!”

“Is that really such a good idea?”

Ava frowned. “What?”

The AI sounded concerned. “You may have capabilities beyond those of the average person, but you are still just a child.” Jarvis had reason to be concerned. Tony was his creator, yes, and he would always be indebted to the man for making him, and they were friends. But in all the years they had spent together, Tony had never once shown that he understood the AI even a fraction as much as Ava did. She somehow seemed to get him in a way that no one else could, not even Tony. And they shared a great many secrets together. And when Ava was upset with Tony, she turned to him. She was his best friend, or whatever the computer equivalent of that would be. 

And he had seen how beaten up Tony could get after coming home from a mission, and he was afraid that Ava wouldn’t be able to handle it as well as her father figure. Jarvis, though only a computer, knew instinctively that he would feel lonely and sad if anything ever happened to Ava.

She flopped onto her bed with a sigh. “Well, you just know how to kill the joy in everything, don’t you? Come on. I know you’re just worried about me, but I’ll be fine. After all, I can do this.” Those large black wings were suddenly resting on her back. And I have Captain America’s shield now. You know the percentage of anything penetrating this baby.” She sighed. “But don’t actually tell me, you know how much I hate percentages.”

Ava rolled over, so her wings were tucked under her, and she was staring up at the ceiling. “I really want to do this.” She spoke quietly. “I want to prove that I can. That I’m not useless.”

Jarvis’s voice was gentle. “I can assure you that Neither Master Stark or Miss Potts has ever thought of you as useless.”

Ava sighed. “What about you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“What do you think of me?”

Jarvis made that funny computery sighing noise. “Of course I don’t think that you’re useless. Unless it comes to cleaning up, because that is something you are horrendous at.”

Ava laughed. “You know… I’ve never really had a friend before, so I don’t know exactly what the word means. But I think that if I ever did have a friend, I would want him to be just like you.”

If Jarvis was a human instead of a computer, his eyes would be tearing up.


	11. Chapter 11

Tony knocked gently on Ava’s door, and it swung open right away. She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. “Um, Ava… can I talk to you?”

She opened the door wider so he could step in, then ran past him and flopped onto her bed. “What’s up?”

He gulped. “Um, Ava, here’s the thing. Where we’re going, it could get pretty dangerous. I think it would be best if you stay back, near the entrance.”

Ava frowned. “Oh. Um. Okay, I guess.”

He nodded and turned to leave. Ava had had permanent access to every floor of the tower for several months now, but she would trade all that to be able to actually fight side by side with the Avengers. Only a few minutes later, the entire team and Ava met outside, where there was a car waiting. Tony and Thor could both fly to the labs, but Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Steve, and Ava, still needed to be driven.

It was an awkwardly silent car ride after the initial strategic discussions. Natasha tried to get a read off of Ava, but the teenager had a pretty good poker face. It was hard to tell what the younger girl was thinking. When they finally arrived, Natasha gave Clint a glance, and he nodded his understanding. The captain, the scientist, and the female assassin got out of the car, while Clint stayed in front of the door, keeping Ava in as well.

She folded her arms over her chest and glared. “Seriously? Who did you piss off to get stuck with babysitting duty?”

He didn’t respond, and Ava groaned. Apparently it was worth it to be one member of the team short as long as it meant Ava wasn’t close enough to completely screw everything up. When she was certain that Hawkeye wasn’t planning on moving anytime soon, she made a holographic version of “The Forbidden Game” by LJ Smith, one of her favorite books.

After a few pages, she realized that the archer was staring at her with curiosity and fascination. She looked up at him, and he shrugged. “Sorry, it’s just… interesting.”

Ava nodded. Even she didn’t understand her powers, so she could understand how they would be seen as confusing to an outside party. “Yeah, well, you can only imagine my face when I first woke up…” She trailed off as she realized that Clint was staring at her uncomfortably close. “Is there something on my face?”

He shook his head. “No, but your eyes… they look like they have little tiny computer chips in them or something. Or am I just imagining that?”

Ava shifted awkwardly in her seat. “No, you’re not imagining things. As far as I know, my eyes look like that whenever I use my powers. But that’s not what they look like naturally. See?” The book disappeared, and her eyes were still the same bright green, but missing the techy look. “It’s weird, I know.”

Clint shook his head. “No, I think it’s really neat. I’ve never-” The whole car was suddenly filled with acrid smoke. The archer grabbed the door handle, but the door wouldn’t move. He smoothly slid one of his arrows out of the quiver and stabbed it into the window. A web of cracks spread from the impact point, and Ava felt like this was going to take too long.

She was holding a spark plug. She couldn’t throw it at the window, since all her holograms disappeared the second she lost contact with them, so she would have to improvise. Ava threw herself forward, the hand clenching the plug extended forward. Combined with the force from Clint hitting it, the window shattered. Ava felt glass pieces pierce her body, but that wasn’t important. 

She reached out to try opening the door from the outside, but that didn’t work any better than from the inside. She slipped off her jacket and put it over the jagged frame, then shimmied out, and Clint followed. Once they were safely out of the car, it was impossible to see inside through the thick smoke. But it was easy to spot the giant smoking chunk of metal on the roof. “We may have to take a cab home.” Ava muttered.

Ava began to run into the building, and Hawkeye ran right next to her. They got inside to a scene of disaster. They were in what looked like a large warehouse, and there was that steampunk robot that Fury had been showing pictures of. It was at least fifty feet tall. Natasha was clinging to one of its feet, slashing away with a dagger, the captain had his shield out, protecting him from some weird laser that was coming from the robot’s eyes, Tony was lying over by a stack of crates that was blocking him from view, and Bruce was no where in sight.

Ava bit her lip. Now that she was actually here, it wasn’t exactly what she had expected. The robot suddenly shifted its head so that it was facing the two newcomers. Ava whispered to Clint out of the corner of her mouth. “Go make sure your teammates are okay.” He hesitated, but then ran to his friends. After all, they had priority over some random girl, even if she was Iron Man’s daughter.

Ava flew up, using her magnificent black wings, until she was hovering at the robot’s eye level. She knew that bombs and grenades were ineffective because she had no way of using them without blowing herself up in the process. But since her powers had developed, she had learned to be pretty creative.

She made a giant bamboo spike, almost twenty feet long, with a grenade taped to the end. She jammed it into the robot’s eye as hard as she could, then held the pole from as far back as she could without letting go. There was an explosion, and black smoke clouded the air. The robot fell, and it was skewered by a giant conveniently placed pole. 

Ava let go of the stick and turned to the Avengers with a triumphant grin. The ones she could see actually looked pretty impressed. Then their faces turned serious, and Clint was shouting something, but she was too high up to hear him. She would just chat with him later. Suddenly there was a giant force coming out of no where that swatted Ava out of the air as easily as if she was a fly.

That smack was enough to knock her unconscious, and then she slammed into the wall and slid to the ground. There was a second robot that had been waiting in the wings. Speaking of wings, Ava’s were still there, even though she was unconscious. That just made them seem even more real.

Before any of the Avengers could act, the Hulk jumped in out of no where and began tearing the machine apart. He finished it off in just a few minutes. Then the Hulk ripped open the front of Tony’s suit so he could wriggle out. He hadn’t been unconscious, just trapped in a broken suit. And he had seen everything.

His heart was pounding so hard as he ran over to Ava and dropped to his knees. He placed one gentle hand to her chest, and felt that she was still breathing. Her eyes flickered open, though they looked unfocused. “I guess I really am just a screw up.”

Tony scrunched up his face to keep himself from crying. “You know that that’s not true. You just defeated someone who was kicking our asses, Ava.”

“Avalon.” Her voice was weak.

Tony frowned. “What?”

She coughed, and blood dripped between her lips. “My name is Avalon…just… thought you should know…” Her eyes slid shut again, though Tony could still feel a faint pulse. He scooped her up, her wings going right through his arms. There were already vehicles pulling up outside, since at least one of the others had called this in to S.H.I.E.L.D.

There was an ambulance among the newly arrived cars. Tony made sure the paramedics got her onto a stretcher, then got into the ambulance. He directed them to a private hospital, and they began giving Ava the care she needed. He watched anxiously as they moved around her, doing so many things Tony lost track of what was what.

When they got to the hospital, Tony was shoved the the side as the doctors crowded the unconscious girl. No one would tell him what was going on, so he stepped outside to make a phone call. Bruce was already waiting for him outside, and he led Tony to the courtyard so they could sit and talk. 

“Tony… she’s not really your daughter, is she?”

The billionaire sighed. A million thoughts were running through his mind, but he managed to focus. He cleared his throat after a long pause. “No, no she’s not. I’m not… she’s not mine. And as soon as she gets better…” Bruce gave him a sympathetic look. “As soon as I can, I need to get her home.” Bruce nodded, but didn’t say anything. Like most superheroes, he understood the need to keep those he loved most away to keep them safe.

He could have told his teammate how that almost never worked out. How the one who was sent away almost always ended up bitter and resentful towards the hero. But he didn’t say anything. That was something that each hero needed to learn the hard way, otherwise they would never understand.


	12. Chapter 12

Ava blinked and took in her surroundings. She recognized that she was in the hospital. There was a strange beeping noise, and she sat up. There were a thousand things hooked up to her, and she didn’t like any of them. Her instincts told her to tear out the tubes and run away as fast as she could. It was almost like she could sense that something bad was about to happen.

She hoped that Tony was okay. She had only seen his unmoving suit once her and Hawkeye had entered the warehouse. There was a grunt, and Ava saw someone slumped over in the chair next to the bed, sleeping. It was dark though, and she couldn’t tell who it was just from the dim night light.

Ava cleared her throat, and the person sat up, startled. A scratchy, yet familiar, voice whispered hopefully into the darkness. “Ava?”

“Tony? Are you okay?”

He laughed, though he didn’t sound very happy. “You’re the one who was hurt, and you’re asking me if I’m okay? I don’t think I’ll ever understand you, Ava.” He got up to turn on the light in the room. He looked terrible, like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and his clothes were a mess, like he hadn’t moved from that chair at all. 

Tony looked like he wanted to say something, but he was cut off by the doctor who rushed into the room. He began checking Ava’s vitals, and marked things down on his clipboard while making sounds of surprise. “Is everything okay?”

The doctor nodded. “Surprisingly, yes. Let me just ask you some questions to make sure your cognitive abilities are still functioning properly. Can you tell me your name?”

“Ava Bench.”

The doctor nodded encouragingly. “How old are you, Ava?”

“Sixteen.”

The doctor went on for a few more minutes before deciding that Ava really was okay. “Well, I think that it would be best if you stay another night, just so we can run some tests and make sure that everything on the inside looks as good as it does on the outside. I’ll leave you two to talk now.”

Ava turned to Tony and laughed. “He’s definitely a little thorough.” She noticed the hollow look in his eyes, and she frowned. “What’s wrong?”

He cleared his throat. “Ava… you’re not sixteen anymore. You’re seventeen now.”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “But that’s impossible. My birthday’s not for another three months…” Then it dawned on her what Tony was trying to say. “You mean I’ve been asleep for three whole freaking months?”

Tony nodded. “Ava… I know that what happened back there wasn’t your fault, in fact you performed very admirably. But I shouldn’t have brought you along to somewhere so dangerous in the first place. That just proves… I can’t be who you want me to be. I’m selfish and greedy and I don’t know how to take care of you.”

Ava shook her head. “No, Tony, you’re the only person who’s ever taken care of me. I chose to put myself in danger back there. I could have easily left the tower a few months after I got there, but I stayed, because I chose you. I can be safer, if that will make you feel better, not go on any more Avengers missions.”

Tony frowned. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that that’s not good enough. I’ve let you down, Ava, and I know now that I can’t be… I can’t be your parent. You can’t be mine… it just doesn’t… it just doesn’t work.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to bring you home. Not to the tower, to your real home.”

He expected her to argue, to beg, plead, threaten to kill herself, but she didn’t. Her face became an unreadable mask, and she shrugged. “Okay, if that’s what you think is best.” She yawned. “Crazy how I can be so tired after sleeping for so long. Can you come back in the morning? I want to get some rest now.”

Tony nodded. “Of course.” He left the room, closing the door gently behind him. It hurt a lot that Ava wasn’t putting up any resistance, that she didn’t care enough to fight to stay. Not that it would have made a difference, Tony had made up his mind months ago, but it would have at least been better than this indifference. 

But Ava wasn’t going to fight back. She had screwed up, she was a failure, useless to Tony. It was obvious that he wanted her gone, and after he had been so nice, she wasn’t going to burden him by pathetically arguing with him to let her stay. He deserved her simple cooperation.

Tony went back home to the tower. Pepper greeted him as soon as he walked in the door with a big joyous hug. “The hospital just called- Ava’s awake!” 

Tony nodded. Bruce was the only one that he had confided in about returning Ava to where she belonged. “I’m really tired, Pep. I just want to take a hot shower and then go to sleep forever.”

Jarvis heard and got the shower started so that it would be scalding hot by the time Tony got in. He didn’t like it that way, but maybe it would help prepare him for hell, where he was definitely going for everything he had done, and everything that he was going to do.

The next morning Tony told Pepper that he needed to talk to Ava alone, so she let him go. When he got there, he was half afraid that she had run away in the middle of the night. But that was ridiculous. He entered her room, and she looked up at him with that perfectly blank face of hers. 

He held out a shopping bag. “I brought you some fresh clothes. I figured that you wouldn’t want to the long overdue reunion to happen with you still in your hospital gown.” She took the bag into the tiny bathroom to change. 

Tony wasn’t sure what to expect of Ava’s parents. He knew that they were important to the company they worked for, but he had never met them before. He had always suspected that Ava was a runaway, and that’s why there were no missing persons reports filed for her. When Ava came out, he frowned. The clothes he brought were hers, he pulled them from her closet and he had seen her wear them before.

But now they looked way too big. IV drips clearly provided only the bare minimum of nutrition. Tony filled out the discharge papers at the front desk, then they walked outside and got into the car Tony had decided to bring, and he rolled the top up. He didn’t want her catching a cold right after waking up from a coma.

She stared out the window as he drove, not even questioning how he knew where to find her parents. “Hey. Do you want to stop for lunch or something?” She shook her head. A few minutes later, Tony pointed to the radio. “Want to listen to some music?” Ava shook her head again.

After about forty minutes of that, Tony pulled up in front of a giant house. It looked very expensive. He got out and went around to open Ava’s door. When he reached down to help her out of the car, she refused and stepped around him. The front door of the house burst open, and the couple flew across the lawn. They pulled Ava into a giant hug, and were sobbing and asking where she had been and if she was okay.

Tony couldn’t take it. That could have been him and Pepper in their place, but he had already made his choice. He turned around. “Tony.” Ava spoke so softly he almost thought he had imagined it. “Good bye.” He didn’t turn around, just walked back to his car. He couldn’t turn around, because then Ava would see the tears that were littering his face. 

If he had just turned around then, even for a moment, he would have seen it. The possessive way the Bench’s were clutching Ava’s shoulders, preventing her from moving. The cold look in their eyes as they stared down at their prize. He would have known that this was not where Ava belonged. He would have remembered that her home was the tower. 

But he didn’t turn around, because he was afraid. Afraid that Ava would be looking at him like she didn’t care, like all the time they had spent together didn’t matter to her at all. So Tony kept walking, ignoring Ava’s last plea for help.


	13. Chapter 13

Tony stomped into the tower, and he smelled something good coming from the kitchen. He went in, and there were trays of cookies on the counter, cooling. Tony walked into the living room. The Avengers were all gathered there, and Tony frowned. “What are you guys all doing here?” He really just wanted to be alone with his alcohol right now.

Clint grinned. “We heard from Pepper that Ava woke up, so we’re throwing a welcome home party.”

Bruce smiled awkwardly. “I mean, we obviously don’t know her very well at all, but we thought that it would be a good thing for you…”

Pepper could tell that something was wrong. She grabbed Tony and dragged him out into the hallway. “Tony? What’s wrong? Where’s Ava? Did something happen?”

Tony groaned. “I was hoping to put off this conversation until later…” Pepper’s face showed how worried she was. He couldn’t just leave her to her imagination. “I brought Ava home.”

Pepper looked around like she expected the teenager to jump out of some hiding place. “Then where is-”

Tony cut her off. “I mean her real home. To her real parents.”

Pepper gulped, and her eyes widened. She tried to keep her voice down, but wasn’t very successful. There was hurt in her tone, and Tony had expected that. He knew how close Ava and Pepper were, even if Ava did still insist on calling her Virginia. “What are you talking about, Tony? This is her real home. We are her parents! Don’t you realize that something awful must have happened to make her so desperate to not go back there? Why didn’t you even talk to me first, Tony?”

He sighed. “You don’t understand. It’s my fault that she almost died. I can’t just… I had to bring her to where she would be safe.”

Pepper looked furious. “And you think that a home where no one seemed to care that she jumped off a bridge is safe? Why didn’t her parents ever file a missing persons report if they care so much? Why wasn’t there an amber alert or something?”

Tony shrugged. “Maybe she ran away-”

It was Pepper’s turn to interrupt him. “And you think that a place she felt the need to run away from is the kind of place she should be staying in? She’s in just as much danger there, I’m sure, and she doesn’t even get the benefit of being happy! Tony!” She smacked him in the arm.

He could see that Pepper was trying to regain her calm so that they could discuss the situation like the adults they were. Jarvis decided to butt in during the awkward silence. “Sir… I believe that you have made a very poor decision in bringing Ava to the place she once called home.”

Tony shrugged miserably. “Oh, what do you know? You’re just a machine.”

Jarvis sounded indignant. “That may be so, Sir, but Ava is someone who I would call my friend. And she feels the same way about me, so she’s told me things, things that she didn’t want you to know about.”

Tony frowned. “Like what?”

Jarvis sounded a little uncomfortable. He didn’t want to reveal the secrets that Ava had trusted him with, but he wanted her home more. “She has told me that her parents were very neglectful. If it wasn’t for what she could get at school, she would have starved to death years ago. And she was constantly afraid of messing up… and well… I’ll let you hear it for yourself.”

There was a soft click, and then Ava’s voice came through Jarvis’s speakers. Tony would have to look into Jarvis’s auto-record feature later, to make sure nothing too private was in the AI’s possession. “Jarvis, please don’t say anything. I just need to talk right now. Actually, I don’t even know if you’re listening, but I bet you are. You seem to like listening to me. Well, I wanted to talk about Tony. You probably already know since you see everything that goes on around here, but I still need to say it out loud. Last night I was trying to bake some cookies. The recipe called for some fancy liquor, but we don’t have any, and I couldn’t ask Tony to get it because the cookies were supposed to be a surprise for him. So I borrowed some whiskey instead. I tried the cookies, and they actually came out pretty good, but I guess I put in more than I thought, and it wasn’t cooked in so the alcohol wasn’t burned away. Tony came back, and I was a little tipsy.”

Tony remembered that night, though it had been a while ago. He had been so surprised to come home and find Ava staggering around like an old drunkard. He had gotten so scared. 

The recording continued. “Well, Tony yelled at me for a while, and he threw away all the cookies that I had worked so hard on. He gave me this look of, of disappointment, and now I’m scared. What if he sends me away, back to that place? What if I messed up so badly that he just doesn’t want me anymore? And if it wasn’t this time, then when will it happen? How soon will it be until the day that he just gets so fed up of me he kicks me out? What would I do then? He’s been so good to me, so I wouldn’t even argue, I know that much. I wouldn’t want to force him to keep me once he doesn’t want me anymore. But I’m so scared, not knowing when the end will come. Jarvis? If I… When I have to go, please make sure that Tony stays changed. I know he was different when we first met, and it’s a really selfish request, but I hope he gets to stay the person that he’s become.”

Tony’s heart hurt. He remembered being scared that night with the cookies because he was scared that Ava was going to be like him. She had reminded him so much of himself when he was younger, and he couldn’t stand the thought of her becoming a jaded kid after she had become so childlike. He was afraid that she was going to become him, so he had panicked. He hadn’t thought about what she was thinking then.

And the reason she hadn’t fought when he told her that he was taking her home was because she thought that she was no longer wanted. Tony wished that he could back in time and fix this. He looked at Pepper, and she was staring at him with hard, accusing eyes. Her voice was only a whisper though, because she wasn’t really as strong as she always made herself look. “You make this right, Tony Stark. You bring her home.”

Tony nodded. He turned, and saw that all the Avengers were standing right there. They had heard everything. Bruce stepped forward. “We’ll go with you.”

Tony was touched by the sentiment. “I’m sorry, but this is something I have to fix myself. But thank you.” Bruce nodded, and the team stood aside so Tony could walk past them. He went outside, and got back into his car. He began the long drive back to that place. When he got there, there were no lights on inside that he could see, even though it was getting dark out.

He walked up the driveway and knocked on the front door. When no one answered, he knocked again. There was still no response, and he was worried that something bad had happened. He kicked the door down, and ran into the house. His eyes widened in shock. There was no furniture, the whole place was completely empty. It looked like it was brand new, and no one had ever lived in it before.

A quick glance into every room revealed that they were all empty. Tony went back   
outside and got into his car. She was gone. Ava was gone. And it was all Tony’s fault.

***

Ava blinked slowly and looked around. There was a sudden bright light shining in her eyes, and then it was gone. She couldn’t move, so she started to panic. But she didn’t even have the mobility to thrash around. All she could do was blink and breath.

Margie Bench was staring down at her. Her voice sounded distant, like it was being heard underwater or something. “Well, you were right. All mobility has ceased, but she is conscious.”

An unfamiliar voice spoke. “Of course I was right. She was, after all, my favorite little science project.” Ava strained her eyes to see past the fuzzy outlines. She could make out the shape of a bald head, and there was a sinking feeling in her stomach. The man leaned over her. “You’re awake. I just wanted to introduce myself while you still understand the irony of the situation.”

If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, then she was looking into the face of Obadiah Stane. Most knew him as an important member of Stark Industries, who had been an unfortunate casualty in a bad situation. But Tony had told Ava the whole story, from Obadiah’s betrayal to his death. Her mouth fumbled clumsily, but she was able to choke out the words. “You’re dead.”

Obadiah made a fake surprised face. “Oh, my bad. Whoops, I guess I forgot to mention that I’m still alive last time I saw Tony. I’ll just have to be satisfied with telling you. I’m alive. And you are finally going to be finished the way you were supposed to be. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Buttons were pressed, and the world slipped away.


	14. Chapter 14

Tony wasn’t sure where to go. If he showed up back at the tower without Ava, he had no doubt that Pepper would murder him. Honestly, she was far more frightening than any of the villains that he had faced off with before.

But there was really no other choice. If he was going to track down Ava, he would need help. So he returned to the tower empty handed. Pepper was there as soon as he stepped inside, her hands on her hips. “Well? Where is she?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. I went back to her house, but it’s completely empty. It looks like no one’s ever even lived there. I don’t even know where to begin looking for her.”

The Avengers glanced at each other, then they all looked at Bruce. He had somehow been delegated to speak for the group. He stepped forward and cleared his throat. “I’m sure that you’re very capable of tracking people down on your own. But this time, I must insist that you allow us to help. We’re a team, it’s what we’re supposed to do. So please, let us.”

Tony nodded gratefully. If he wasn’t such a firm believer in avoiding emotional scenes, he would have said something to them about how much he appreciated the gesture, but he didn’t bother. They already knew it, anyways. Even if they hadn’t been a team for very long, it had been long enough for them to get to know each other pretty well.

The others all looked ready to head out. “I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to go grab my suit.” He looked at Pepper. “Stay here in case she comes back on her own, okay?”

Pepper nodded. None of them had any idea of where Ava actually was, and whose custody she was in. He took the elevator up to the roof, and got on his latest model Iron Man suit. He flew back down to the street below, where the others were already waiting. Jarvis began searching for any signs of the Bench’s that could be traced electronically.

They made their way back to the empty house. Hawkeye and Black Widow began searching for even the tiniest clues. Bruce stood awkwardly by the door as lookout. Thor offered to go back to Asgard and have the gatekeeper, Heimdall, locate Ava. Now that the Tesseract had been returned to Asgard, travel back and forth was once again easy.

Tony was flying around above the house, using some new software he had given Jarvis. It was meant to be able to piece together clues from a crime scene so it would become obvious what had happened. He was planning on handing that technology over to the police as soon as he had perfected it.

After about twenty minutes, the assassins were done with their search of their house. Tony’s software had been useless, since there were no crime scene clues, at least as far as he could tell. Hawkeye held up a skittle. “Found this by the front door.” Tony lifted his helmet, and stared at the man with a raised eyebrow. Hawkeye shrugged. “I just think that if someone went through all the trouble of cleaning the house, they wouldn’t have missed this, unless it was dropped after the house was cleaned.”

Tony shook his head. “I still don’t understand the significance of that. Anybody could have walked in there and dropped a piece of candy.”

“Hey, I’m just showing you what I found. You’re supposed to be a genius, why don’t you figure out what it’s supposed to mean?”

Tony shrugged. “Well it can’t be Ava’s, if that’s what you’re trying to say. She doesn’t like skittles.”

Black Widow coughed. “I’m sorry… but how can your kid not like skittles? Is it some kind of genetic mistake? I mean, how does something like that even occur? If this is a world where children don’t like skittles, then this isn’t a world I want to be a part of.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s get something straight. She’s not a kid, she’s already seventeen years old. And she’s…” He cleared his throat. He was going to say ‘she’s not my kid’, but he really didn’t want to say that. Besides, they obviously already knew that, since they 

The ground suddenly started shaking, and there was a bright flash of light. Thor was standing there, a proud grin on his face. “I know where to find your Ava.”

Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and Steve piled back into the car, while Tony followed Thor through the air. After about an hour, they stopped. There was a giant black gate surrounding a large piece of land, with a huge house located right in the middle. Tony glanced at Thor. “You’re sure that this is it?”

The god nodded. The two of them flew over the gate, and opened it so the others could drive in. As soon as they were on the other side, the gate swung shut, and four grounded Avengers stepped out of the car. 

The six of them made their way to the mansion. As they were going, a bunch of men in suits and sunglasses jumped out of nowhere, guns drawn. The captain immediately began kicking their asses. “Hey! You guys go on, I’ve got this!” Then he turned his concentration to the fight.

When they got to the house, Tony blasted the front door open without even checking to see if it was locked or not. There were more of those guys. Natasha and Clint began beating them back, and they nodded for the other three Avengers to keep going.

Thor was sidetracked by about twenty guys at once, who seemed to know exactly how to fight him without getting themselves knocked out, or killed.

On the third floor, one of the bad guys managed to fire a round at Bruce. He began heaving and turning green. Tony hurried on with Bruce’s permission. He knew the Hulk wouldn’t stay contained after being shot at. 

Once he blasted past a few handfuls of men, rushing past them before they could recuperate and attack again. There was one open door in the entire long hallway, so he cautiously walked in. There was Ava lying on a bed, a bunch of tubes and wires hooked up to her. He hurried over, his guard dropped.

He lifted back the helmet of his suit, and crouched down next to the bed. “Ava?” He was afraid that she had slipped back into her coma or something. Before Tony could react, the door behind him slammed shut, and a large steel door lowered behind it. There was a scratching sound in his ears. Jarvis was offline.

Tony couldn’t lower his helmet now, he would have no visual, and that would be bad. There was a small popping sound, and a TV on the wall turned on. Tony looked, and his eyes widened. There was Obadiah, sitting behind a desk with a smug look on his face. “Oh, Tony, how good it is to see you again.” Obadiah hit some buttons on the computer next to him. “Now for the best part of the show!”

There was a groan, and Tony saw that Ava was blinking and starting to get up. He glared at Obadiah. “If you hurt her, I swear-”

The older man laughed. “Now, now, Tony, I would never hurt an innocent child. You, on the other hand, just might.”

The TV switched off, but there was still a blinking green light at the top to show that the camera was still on. Ava got up, and stood stiffly. Tony frowned. Her eyes were staring at him blankly, almost looking right through him, like he didn’t exist. They were a dull green, not the usual vibrant color.

Then they changed to the microchip style, and a holographic sword extended from each arm. He gasped and spun around, but there was no enemy behind him. “Ava?” She ran forward and swung her swords. Tony was able to react quickly, and he dodged out of the way.

The TV turned back on. “Now this is getting good. But it’s not quite there yet. Oh, I know!” Then it turned off. The floor beneath them opened up, and Ava’s sudden holographic wings kept her in flight, while Tony helplessly tumbled down. He looked around once he regained his senses. They seemed to be in some kind of gym, and it was very big.

Ava flew down, and swung at Tony again, he evaded the attack, but he could feel the whoosh of wind as the blades sliced past his head. This wasn’t right. Why would Ava be attacking him like this? And she was moving in such a mechanical, robotic way…

Obadiah’s voice boomed through some hidden speakers. “Well, Tony, you’re certainly taking away some of my entertainment. Maybe you just haven’t figured out the rules yet. Your ‘child’ is going to kill you. Even if you had the full use of your suit, she is far more powerful. But, if you do somehow gain the advantage, then the only way out is by killing her first.”


	15. Sixteen Years Ago

Sixteen Years Ago

Obadiah walked around the lab with a fierce expression. He hadn’t expected Howard’s son to be quite so intelligent. Luckily the younger man didn’t seem to care much at all for responsibility, so the odds of him discovering the secret labs were quite slim. But even so, that didn’t mean one of his people should deliver him important lab reports while he was in the middle of a board meeting, where Tony was present. It wasn’t hard to keep a secret around the young man, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t eventually notice something if they kept being so obvious.

He decided to check on his favorite project out of all of them. It was quite complicated, but the scientist leading the project was very competent, and Obadiah had complete faith in her. It was her fool of a husband that worried him. That man submitted more ideas than anyone cared to count, and all of them were completely worthless.

He stepped into the lab, and saw that Margie Bench was standing by the table, scribbling some notes down on her clipboard. She glanced up at Obadiah as he walked in, then bent her head back down to continue her work. “Mr. Stane.”

He stared at the creation in the center of the table. “Well? Has it shut down like all the others have so far?”

Margie shook her head. “Actually, this one has lasted longer than all of the others combined. I may be a little hasty in saying so, but I believe that project Avalon X will be a success.”

He pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. Without bothering to ask for permission, he scooped up the child. She blinked a few times, and stared up with brilliant green eyes. He held her carefully, since there were still a million different things plugged into her. He looked over at Margie with a grin. Even he was not immune to the calming effects that babies seemed to have over people.

He looked at the monitor displaying the child’s vitals. Everything seemed to be healthy, and he glanced at Margie. “And all aspects of the project are favorable?”

She nodded, and hung the clipboard on the side of the small bassinet. “It would appear so. The circuits are all in place, and the organs haven’t rejected them as foreign objects.” 

She peered closer. “You can see the resemblance.”

Their project was based off the idea of a cyborg, a half human, half robot being. So before the baby was even gestating in the surrogate mother, they did several procedures that involved placing microscopic electronic chips into the egg. Once the surrogate was pregnant enough to be showing, they surgically cut her open, found the baby, and removed half of its developing brain, replacing it with more electronics. 

Several scientists had insisted that they use Tony’s DNA to father the baby, because they found that to be ironic, and also, it really did give the child a better chance of surviving. None of the others so far had lived, and this was going to be their last try. If it didn’t work out, that was just proof that nature hadn’t intended to meld man and technology. But if this was a success, then the project would make them billions of dollars. They could breed their own army, stronger and more indestructible than ordinary soldiers, and very easily controlled, unlike humans.

He cradled the baby gently. Tony had always been the closest thing he had to a child. But now, he could have his own child. She would be strong, and she would have abilities beyond those of a normal person. She would be special. 

Margie scurried off, presumably to help out with another project that was going on. Obadiah smiled at the baby, and she smiled back. Suddenly, her eyes changed to look like microchips or something, and she was clutching a teddy bear in her hand. He could see right through it, and when he grabbed it, his hand slipped right through. It was a hologram.

The girl smacked him with the bear, and he could actually feel it. Then the hologram flickered and disappeared. The child scrunched up her face, and Obadiah put her back down. He wasn’t going to deal with a crying infant. There was a pause, and then her face went slack. The monitor started beeping insistently. An engineer and a doctor hurried into the room. They started pressing buttons and writing things down.

The doctor frowned. “There is an irregularity in the brain pattern, but I’m afraid that I can’t identify what’s causing it.”

Obadiah frowned. Another doctor came in, and she picked up the child. She murmured,

“Oh my.” and looked up at the other doctor. “Are your readings saying what I think they are?”

The other man nodded gravely. “I’m afraid so. The child is in some kind of coma. I don’t think she’ll make it through the night. I’m sorry.”

Obadiah stormed away. The project was worthless. The child wouldn’t be able to do anything other than drool, if she even lived. There was no point in keeping the thing around. He waited until the others had left, then went back into the room. He turned off the monitor before yanking out all the cords and plugs that were attached to the baby. In the morning, he would make sure someone disposed of the scrapped project.

He went back to his office, and there was that idiot, Stan Bench, waiting for him. He was balancing a heavy looking folder on his hip. “Sir? I was wondering if you would look over my new project idea? I mean, I know in the past they’ve all been turned down, but I seriously doubt that you personally have ever read any of them.”

Obadiah snatched the folder, and slammed his office door shut behind him. He skimmed the pages, as a distraction from the failed project, and he could immediately tell that this was not written by someone with even an ounce of intelligence. He wrote up a report of rejection, and faxed it to Margie. He didn’t know Stan’s number.

The next morning, Obadiah showed up to work feeling a little more relaxed. He walked into the lab room, and saw that it was empty. He just shrugged. Someone must have been working late, noticed the dead child, and got rid of it on their own. That was good. It saved him the trouble he would get into if anyone ever associated him with a dead baby. That would definitely be bad for business.

He crumpled up the paper coffee cup that was now empty, and tossed it into the trash can. They would have to have a brainstorming meeting to come up with ideas they could work on in the now empty lab space. He looked around as the workers filed in. He wondered for a moment where Margie was, then shrugged. She was probably just a little late in getting up. That was a side effect of being one of the lead scientists on a project that only ended in failure.


	16. Chapter 16

Tony dodged as Ava swung Thor’s hammer at him. This was bad. This was very bad. Even Tony Stark, the genius in the room, couldn’t see a way out without one or both of them ending up dead. And that was just not acceptable. He checked again, but he was still cut off from Jarvis. And without the AI running the basic suit functions, it was useless.

He was suddenly sent flying as one of Ava’s attempts actually caught him. Okay, so maybe the suit wasn’t completely useless. It was still pretty strong for a suit of armor. Without it, he would probably be sporting a few broken bones by now. He jumped aside as Ava flew forward to smack him again.

He rolled out of the way. Geez. He had known that Ava was strong, but he had never realized just quite how powerful she was. Those holograms were going to be the death of him, and that was a souring thought. She slowly approached, on light feet, and Tony ducked behind a large crate and held his breath.

There was no sound, and she suddenly sprang at him from around the crate, slicing her hammer through the air, and the part of his helmet that was raised up went flying away with a loud clank as it made contact with the wall. “Ava, stop! It’s me, Tony!”

He rolled out of the way as she swung again. His brain was whirring as he tried to figure out what Obadiah had done to turn the girl against him. This was completely out of character for Ava. The only life that the teen had ever threatened before was her own. The hammer disappeared, and Tony’s eyes widened as he saw Ava covered by her own, see-through, Iron Man suit.

She threw herself at him, and he had to roll away again to evade the attack. He couldn’t keep going like this. It was obvious that she wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon, not until she had killed him. And at this rate, that wouldn’t take very long.

The suit was gone, and the wings were back. They swung through the air, and the force literally blew Tony back. His suit was crumpling, and soon it would do more damage than good. If she kept hitting it, the metal would eventually cave in and crush him. “Ava! Stop this!”

She rushed at him, Captain America’s shield attached to a band on her arm. He could see through it, but he knew by now that somehow, Ava’s holograms were real. At least, when she wanted them to be, they were. She crashed into his leg as he dodged, and he heard a sickening crunch.

Obadiah’s voice came through some hidden speakers, sounding tinny and fake. “Well, Tony, this is quite fun to watch. I do wonder though, when will your survival instincts kick in and force you to fight back? Because that’s when this will get really really good.”

Tony growled. “What did you do to her? How are you making her act like this?”

Obadiah laughed. “Really, Tony, I would have expected someone with your mind to be more curious. Did you never once wonder about her abilities? Did it seriously never occur to you to ask why she can do what she can do?”

Tony leaped aside as Ava tried to decapitate him with the shield. This wasn’t working. Obadiah was more of a distraction than anything, and it was taking his concentration away from trying to avoid all of the attacks. “Obadiah! This isn’t a game! You have to tell her to stop!”

There was an amused chuckle. “Avalon X, stop.” The girl froze where she was standing, and all the holograms she had out disappeared. “On second thought… Avalon X… Ava… continue what you were doing. You are to keep going until one of you is dead, preferably Mr. Stark.”

Ava jumped towards Tony, and he gasped. She was holding hands with a hologram Pepper Potts. Pepper was in her Iron Man suit, Rescue, and she looked ready to attack Tony as well. The hologram came at him, and then disappeared a moment before it could even touch him. He gasped.

The next human hologram was of Obadiah, holding that sonic taser that Tony hated so much. The hologram also disappeared right before it could actually do anything to Tony. He looked at Ava pleadingly. “Please… you have to stop this. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He tried to take it as a good sign that she was screwing around with him. If she was completely gone, then she would have just destroyed him immediately like Obadiah had instructed, right?

She came at him again, this time with her favorite sword held loosely in her hands. She tossed herself forward, and Tony knocked her back. She was tiny compared to him in his suit, and she went flying across the room. She popped back up, not even seeming to notice the scarlet stream running down from her forehead.

He looked around, trying to find an exit, or a camera, or anything that he could use to his advantage. “Obadiah! I bet that’s not even her, is it? Ava would never try to hurt me! And she isn’t some robot that wouldn’t be in pain when injured!”

There was a chuckle. “Oh, Tony, you’re still as naive as the day you ‘killed’ me. Well, I have some news for you. The world isn’t all happy sparkles and rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes you just have to accept that the ending you’re foreseeing is the truth.”

Ava flew at Tony, and he batted her away again. He took a deep breath. He could do this. He had to defeat his attacker, just like any other enemy that he had encountered in the past. All he had to do was incapacitate her, there was no reason that she had to die. Not by his hand. He shot at her with the repulsors in her hands. They were still functional, even though they weren’t at optimal power.

The small girl deflected the counterattack with the Captain’s shield, and there was the sound of Obadiah laughing at him. “Oh, Tony, I’m so pleased that you finally seem to have figured out the rules. Now that you understand, my entertainment is going to be greatly magnified.”

Ava flew over Tony’s head, and thrust forward to stab him in the back. He whipped around and kicked the sword out of it’s path, and then, while Ava took a second to orientate herself, he punched forward as hard as he could, catching her by surprise. There was the sickening crunch of breaking bone, and Ava collapsed.

Tony carefully knelt down next to her. As soon as he was close, her eyes snapped open and she shoved a holographic dagger up, so it would go through his chin. He didn’t want to blast her again at such close range, so he grabbed the hand holding the knife, and squeezed. She didn’t let go until there was a snapping sound.

Her hand dropped, and she struggled to get back up. She didn’t seem to be in any pain from her injuries, but Tony still felt guilty. He cradled her head gently. She tossed up her other arm, clutching her sword, and Tony jumped over her, slamming her head into the ground. Her eyes slid shut, and this time, she was out.

He noticed the soft rise and fall of her chest with relief, and stood up. It was time for Obadiah to pay the piper.


	17. Chapter 17

“Tony!” Tony looked up, and saw Bruce peering down into the hole in the floor. The man sat at the edge, and slid down, leaning heavily against the wall the whole way down. He landed, and hurried over to where Tony was standing over Ava. Bruce’s clothes were torn, but by some miracle they hadn’t been completely shredded. He glanced down at Ava, then back at Tony. “What happened?”

Tony shrugged. “I’m not sure. Obadiah… he did something… something to Ava. It made her keep attacking me, with no logic or reason.” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s time we find out what makes Ava the way she is.”

Bruce placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder comfortingly. “Let’s gather the rest of the team, then head back to the tower, okay?”

Tony nodded. He bent down and scooped up Ava. He noticed that even after almost an entire year of having all the food and care she could want (and even some that she didn’t) Tony could barely feel a difference in her weight. She was still so light.

They left the gym through the door at the end, that had somehow gone unnoticed during Tony and Ava’s fight. As they walked together, the others slowly joined them. By the time they reached the gates at the edge of the property, everyone on the team was there, and no one had any serious injuries other than Ava.

All the Avengers piled into the car, no one in the mood to fly or run or do anything other than sit and stare at the moving scenery that passed by the windows. Once they arrived back at the tower, they filed in, watching Tony carefully as he carried Ava, refusing to let anyone else help even though he was exhausted, and possibly had a broken leg, or at least a bad sprain.

He got onto the elevator and went down to the basement, where his workshop was located. He put her down onto the cot that was down there for when he spent late nights working on his next invention, then peeled off what was left of his suit.

Bruce knocked on the door, then stepped inside before Tony could give him permission, holding a big leather bag. He cleared his throat. “You know, last time I checked, you weren’t a medical expert or anything. Why don’t you let me take a look at the two of you?”

Tony frowned. “What about the others.”

Bruce shrugged. “None of them are hurt too badly, they can patch themselves up. And whatever they can’t get on their own can wait. But it seems like Ava is in need of care most urgently.”

Tony stepped back, and allowed Bruce to approach the small bed. He knelt down and began gently prodding at Ava’s injuries. She didn’t make any sounds, and if it wasn’t for the shallow movements of her chest, Tony would be afraid that she was dead. Bruce looked up with a grimace. “She has a few broken ribs, a broken hand, a couple bumps on her head, possible concussion, lots of scrapes and bruises.” He smiled gently.”Diagnosis? She’ll live.”

Tony let out a breath he hadn’t been aware of holding. “Oh, thank god. Now if we can just figure out why she acted like that… I guess we’ll just have to ask her when she wakes up.”

Bruce stood up. “Tony…” He spoke cautiously. “Have you thought about how easy it was to get out of there? Why would Obadiah just let you walk out the door with his prize? He must have planned something…”

Tony frowned, and plopped down into a chair. “Well, if he does has something planned, we’ll find out sooner or later. For now…” He looked down as he felt Bruce rolling up his pant leg. “What are you doing?”

Bruce shrugged. “You have a sprain, so I’m wrapping it up to prevent too much swelling.” Once he was finished, he went back over to Ava. He carefully wrapped a long bandage around her chest, to keep her ribs from moving around and puncturing something important. He took a mold of her hand so he could make a cast, and wiped a cotton swab with rubbing alcohol on it over the various abrasions. 

Tony nodded gratefully. Pepper burst into the workshop as Bruce turned to leave. She dashed over to Tony and pulled him into a hug. “I was so worried! Everyone else shuffled in with their small injuries, but I didn’t see you, and I thought…” Her gaze landed on the unconscious girl. She gasped. “Oh…”

Bruce reached out to Pepper. “Why don’t you come back upstairs with me?” She nodded, and followed him out the door. She knew that Tony just needed to be alone.

Tony stared at the unconscious girl. Jarvis spoke up. “Sir? What happened?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t really know. Somehow Obadiah is still alive, and he tricked Ava into fighting against me.”

There was a pause, and when the AI spoke again it was like he was carefully choosing each word. “Sir...that recording I played for you earlier… may not be the only secret that you’ve been left out of.” Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “Though not even Ava knows this one…”

“What is it?” Tony honestly couldn’t handle many more life-changing heart pulling secrets, and if this was one of those, he would go upstairs and drink himself into a stupor.  
Jarvis hesitated before replying. “I am programmed to spot many details, as you well know. But there’s something I noticed a while ago, back when Ava first moved in. It’s how many similarities there are between the two of you. Not just in the way you act or talk, but in the small mannerisms, the shape of your smiles, your bone structures.”  
Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you getting at, Jarvis? Just spit it out already.”

“Well, I may have run a few tests, without your knowledge or permission. I didn’t want to say anything, though, since, well, you know how much Ava hates percentages.”

Tony’s words came out as a growl. “What kind of tests did you run?”

The AI’s voice came out softly, like that would make it easier for Tony to hear. “They were DNA and paternity tests, and there is a seventy-three percent chance that Ava is related to you in some way, if not your own child.”


	18. Chapter 18

Tony paced back and forth in the living room. He had already been assured that Ava was not in another coma, she was simply unconscious. He tilted back the glass and let the liquid slide down his throat. He looked up, and Pepper was staring at him. “Tony…” But she was hesitant to say anything else. 

Bruce knocked on the doorframe, and entered the room before anyone could give him permission. That seemed to be a bad habit of his. “Well?”

Bruce smiled comfortingly. “She’s waking up. I think that you should be there for her once she’s up.”

Tony nodded, and headed back down to the basement. He went into the workshop and sat next to the cot. He had forbidden Jarvis from saying anything else, at least for a while. His head was still reeling from the information he had received. How would that even be possible? Ava had her parents, the Bench’s. And Tony had always been so careful. He never got anyone pregnant, he knew that for sure.

Ava’s eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, Tony felt a momentary rush of relief, but it was gone just as quickly. Her eyes were still that dull green rather than their usual vibrant color. That couldn’t be good. “Ava…”

Her head whipped towards him. Her face was blank, a cold, clinical look on it. Whatever Obadiah had done to her hadn’t worn off yet. Tony had been kind of hoping it would just be like when Natasha knocked Clint’s head hard enough to break him free of Loki’s control. But he had no idea what his former friend had done to the teen.

But she wasn’t attacking him yet, so that was a good sign. Maybe she needed Obadiah’s specific orders to do that, or something. “Ava? Do you recognize me? It’s me, Tony. Do you know who I am?”

Her face was unresponsive, and Tony gulped. He wasn’t sure what to do. So he would just have to do what he told Bruce. Find out who Ava really was. His hand slipped inside his pocket, where there was a needle waiting. He clutched it tightly, and pulled it out slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements that would startle her and turn her hostile again.

He reached over and jabbed it into her arm before she could react, and pressed down. It was a fast acting tranquilizer, and her eyes slid shut. He lifted her up and put her down onto his table. He called over a few of his assist robots, and made sure that the door to the workshop was locked. 

It was a little unsanitary to do open surgery in the workshop, but there was really no place more ideal. He had to see what was under the surface. What made Ava so unique. The first thing he did was an x-ray. It showed some impossible images, and Tony decided that it must be malfunctioning. Just to be sure, though, he ran a metal detector over Ava’s body.

The results were quite bizarre. They matched the results of the x-ray. Tony looked up. “Jarvis, can you verify these results?” There was a long pause, and Tony rolled his eyes. “You have permission to speak.”

When Jarvis spoke, he sounded a little miffed. “Your results are verified. Her body is indeed made up of forty-seven percent various metals. They are integrated into her body, no artificial pieces that were put in later.”

Tony sighed. “Geeze. This is all so crazy. And even if that is true, how did Obadiah know? And how does that connect to her holograms?”

The AI said nothing. He really had nothing to add to the conversation. He wasn’t built with an ability to speculate. Tony groaned. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to do here!”

There was a knock on the door, and Jarvis spoke. “Sir, Dr Banner is at the door, and he wishes to gain entry. Shall I let him in?”

“Did you just say ‘shall’?” Tony shook his head. “Yeah, fine, let him in. But lock the door as soon as he’s in, okay?”

“Of course, Sir.”

The door unlocked with a click, and swung open. Bruce stepped in, and glanced at the girl lying on the table. “Do I even want to know what’s going on here?”

Tony sighed. “I was just trying to see… what’s inside I guess. Something that Obadiah said. And well… apparently she’s made up of forty-seven percent metal. What does that even mean, though?”

Bruce frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Do you think that that has to do with her powers?”

Tony shrugged. “At this point, nothing’s really clear-” Ava’s eyes opened and she hopped off of the table. There was her favorite holographic sword in her hands, something she had seen in a movie at some point. She was holding it in position like she was ready to attack. 

Tony held out his hands in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture. “Ava, you don’t need to do this. It’s me, Tony.” Her eyes flicked over to the shorter man. Tony sighed. “That’s just Bruce. He’s a friend, remember?” Tony felt like he was trying to calm a wild animal. There was a ringing, and after a moment, Tony realized that it was coming from one of Ava’s pockets.

She gazed at him cautiously. She must have decided that he wasn’t a risk to her, because the sword disappeared, and she reached into her pocket. She pulled out a cell phone, one that Tony had never seen before. It was old fashioned, she flipped it open and held it up to her ear.

Ava didn’t say anything, just listened to whatever the person on the other end was saying. She nodded, and held the phone out to Tony. Her voice was monotone. “It’s for you.”

Tony carefully reached out to grab it, half afraid that the girl would slice his arm off as soon as the opportunity was presented. He grabbed the phone and held it up to his own ear. “Hello?”

Obadiah was laughing at him. “Tony, good to hear from you again. I wasn’t sure who was going to be the winner of that little fight back there, but I have to say, I am pleased with the results. It would be such a waste for you to die without fully understanding the irony of it all.”

“What are you talking about?”

Obadiah chuckled. “Well, maybe you’re not as smart as I always gave your credit for. The kid is yours, Tony, in genetics, maybe. But really, she’s mine. She’s her parents’. I mean, when you think about it, she belongs to almost everyone but you. And yet, somehow you two managed to find each other. You know, I never expected her to survive. I really didn’t. But now that I know she has, I know that the project was a success. And this kind of super soldier is far better than someone transformed by a serum.”

Tony growled. “I swear, if you don’t release her from however you’re controlling her right now, I’ll-”

“What, kill me again? Okay, Tony, sure. But just remember, to kill me, you’ll have to go through my new favorite toy first.”

Tony looked over at Ava, and the sword was in her hands again.


	19. Chapter 19

Obadiah’s chuckle sounded tinny and fake over the phone speaker. “I’m just joking around with you, at least for now. You can have the kid back. But just don’t forget that I can have control of her again at any time I want. This is a gift, Tony, so don’t waste it.”

There was a click as the line went dead, and a thud as Ava collapsed to the floor. Tony couldn’t help thinking that Ava must have built up a pretty strong head resistance after all the knocks she had taken. He hurried to kneel next to her, and make sure she didn’t hit her head too hard on the concrete ground.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she sat up on her own. Tony let out a sigh of relief as he saw that her eyes looked as bright as they normally did. She looked around in confusion. When she saw the two sets of eyes on her, she shrank into herself, like she was trying to be as small as possible.

Her eyes widened a bit as she looked back and forth between the two scientists, but she didn’t say anything. She had always been a nervous wreck around strangers, and if her eyes weren’t deceiving her, then that was Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, and Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk.

The teen looked down at the floor and squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe if she wished for it hard enough, she would just wake up in her bedroom back home. There was a strange voice in the back of her mind encouraging her to question where home was, but she ignored it. She needed to figure out how she had somehow gotten from the Verrazano-Narrows bridge to wherever she was right now.

The last thing she remembered was watching her shoes fall into the water. Was she dead right now? What had happened?

Tony reached out slowly. He wasn’t sure what he had expected. He had given Ava away, back to the people who had made her life miserable, of course she was going to hate him now. He kept his voice soft, so he would sound comforting. He wanted her to understand that he hadn’t given her away because he didn’t want her. “Ava?”

Ava peered up cautiously from underneath the veil of hair covering her face. How did Tony freaking Stark know her name? What was going on? Tony saw the confusion on her face, but wasn’t sure what could be causing it. Maybe whatever Obadiah had done caused permanent brain damage or something. 

Her voice came out as a soft whisper. “How do you know my name?”

Tony and Bruce stared at each other with shocked looks. Tony pulled back his hand. “It’s me, Tony.” Her look was unresponsive, and he felt nervous flurries in his stomach. He looked at Bruce. 

The smaller man motioned for Tony to back off a little, and then he crouched down by Ava. “Ava, I’m a doctor,” technically not a lie, “and I just want to examine you and make sure you’re okay.”

Ava shook her head. “No thank you.” She whispered as politely as possible. Tony groaned. This was Obadiah’s doing. Was it the old man’s warped sense of humor or something? “I just want to go home.”

Bruce sighed. “Can you tell me how old you are?”

The teen looked at him searchingly, like she was trying to figure out whether he would get mad or not. She gulped. “Sixteen.”

Tony’s eyes widened further, and Bruce remained calm. “Can you tell me the last thing that you remember?”

Ava narrowed her eyes, then nodded slowly. “Okay. I was uh, I was on the bridge.”

Tony frowned. “What bridge? And what were you doing there?” He had a feeling that he already knew the answers to those questions.

She gulped. “I was, uh, taking a walk. On the Verrazano-Narrows. If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me where I am right now?”

Tony looked ready to punch something, so Bruce spoke instead. “You’re in the workshop of Tony Stark, this man.” He pointed to Tony. “Do you recall ever being in here before?”

Ava shook her head. She looked down at herself, and frowned. She held up her arms. They were still thin, but not nearly as thin as she remembered. What was going on? Tony looked up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, can you figure out what’s wrong with her?”

There was a moment of silence, and Ava thought that maybe the genius had gone crazy, and was speaking to an imaginary friend. Then a disembodied voice answered. “It would appear that she has amnesia.”

Tony sighed with exasperation. “Yeah, I got that. But can you tell me why? What caused her to lose her memory?”

There was another pause. “Most likely possibility is that her memory drives were wiped, at least partially.”

Tony shook his head. “You’re not going to give me the exact percentage? How surprising.”

The AI responded with a defensive tone. “Ava does not like percentages. She has often verbalised her hatred for them, though not the logic behind that opinion.”

The billionaire glanced at his friend. “Will you stay here… with her? I just need some air.” Bruce nodded, even though he knew that when Tony said ‘air’, he meant ‘scotch’. “Thanks.” The man hurried away.

Ava looked around the room shyly, taking in the sight of all the neat gadgets and projects lying around. She was trying to locate the source of that soothing voice. She figured it was some sort of AI, but she was wondering where the speakers and microphones were hidden around the room so the machine could pick up any information it needed.

She looked at Bruce, who was standing up. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Bruce sighed. “Well, apparently your memories from the past year have been erased. Most likely by Obadiah, though I’m not sure you know who it is. And also you were apparently a very different person before Tony found you.”

The girl furrowed her eyebrows. “Found me? What do you mean?”

Bruce shrugged. “I’ve never heard the full story. Sorry. I guess now you don’t know the full story anymore, either.”

Ava stood up, and was relieved that her legs were able to support her. “How is it possible to erase someone’s memory on purpose?”

Jarvis spoke. “Because your memory is run by a memory drive, like the kind found in a computer, and those can be wiped very easily.”

Ava shivered. This was turning out to be a rather strange day for her. First getting shoved in front of a car, then being yelled at by her mom, and going to the bridge to jump, and somehow not knowing anything about an entire year that had passed by. For Ava, Brad had only shoved her out onto the road a few hours ago, not over a year ago.


	20. Chapter 20

Obadiah munched on some popcorn as he watched the scene unfolding on his large television screen. Tony was such a fool. He believed that just because Ava was technically no longer being controlled, it was completely safe around her. He would have thought that the billionaire would be smart enough, or at least paranoid enough, to make sure Ava’s electronic parts weren’t in constant recording mode.

Everything he could see on his screen, and everything he could hear through the speakers, were all the things that Ava was seeing and hearing. It was perfect, because she had no idea that she was acting as his spy, and even without her memories, Tony would trust her, and wouldn’t exclude her from important conversations.

Obadiah frowned. Actually, the kid could be kept out of the loop, once they factor in how useless she is when she doesn’t recall anything of the past year. But erasing those memories were essential to his plan, so that Ava couldn’t just straight up tell everyone where to find him. Also, if she could remember everything, then she would probably purposely leave herself out of important conversations.

Really, the only way that anything could be communicated to Ava without Obadiah knowing of it would be if they wrote something in braille and Ava read it without looking. But the odds of that happening were very slim, considering Ava couldn’t even read braille, for one, and that no one knew there was a need to be secretive.

Obadiah watched as Ava followed Banner up to the first floor of the tower, and he chuckled. They were all completely unaware of the spy in their midst, reassuring Obadiah of his brilliance. Tony was looking at her uncertainly, like he was afraid she would disappear, or maybe try to attack him again. But as amusing as that would be, it wouldn’t serve Obadiah’s plan very well.

Ava sat gingerly at the edge of the couch, ready to flee at a moment’s notice. She was the weak, meek version of herself, the one that had lived for sixteen years before meeting Tony and getting a new personality. It was obviously unnerving to the Avengers to see such a drastic change, especially to Tony, who had only ever known Ava as her ‘new’ self, the way she was after she had jumped.

Obadiah knew why that upgrade had happened. Her body had gone into self-preservation mode, and the easiest way it saw to keep her alive was to make her regret her decision, which would only happen if she became a stronger person. It wasn’t a foreign personality on her or anything, she had always had the potential to become that Ava. But her sorry excuse for parents had never nurtured her in any way, and had instead fostered that pathetic side to the teen.

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and Obadiah turned away from his screens, spinning in his swivel chair to face the door. Margie Bench was standing there, her hands on her hips. “After all the trouble I’ve gone through to bring you the girl, and you just let her walk right out the front door?”

Obadiah smiled. “I believe she was carried. And don’t be alarmed, there was a purpose to that. I only needed to mess around with the computer parts of her a little bit, and then return her. But he would never accept it if I tried to simply hand her over, so I let him think that he’s won, so he would feel safe taking her with him. And as for you… what troubles would you be referring to, exactly?”

Margie spluttered. “Maybe the fact that we had to clear out our entire house, pack up and move away from our lives, and pretend like they were never ours. And I had to track you down, don’t think that that was some simple task.”

Obadiah sighed, and shook his head. “Don’t take me for a fool. You moved out of that house weeks ago, and just happened to be back there because you got a tip that it would be good of you to return to your old house, for some mysterious reason. And no, tracking me down couldn’t have been easy, in fact, it would be downright impossible in just a few hours. You’ve known where to find me ever since I faked my death. Anything else?”

Margie balled her hands into fists. “How about the fact that we had to raise your stupid project all by ourselves?”

The older man laughed. “Yes, if that’s what you want to call it. I would consider your treatment to be more along the lines of abuse and neglect, but if raising makes you feel better, then by all means. And you would never have had that burden if you hadn’t decided to steal that project. That was your choice.”

Margie scowled. “Well, if I had known that you had, quite literally, pulled the plug on the project, I wouldn’t have bothered to go through the tiresome task of stealing it.”

Obadiah tilted his head thoughtfully. “Yes. You’ve still neglected to explain to me how she isn’t some vegetable coma patient drooling away in some hospital. Even if she survived having life support or power or anything else that was being pumped into her, she was brain dead. Both doctors working on the project confirmed.”

Margie shrugged. “I didn’t do anything, honestly. I grabbed a baby, and ran off with my husband. We were planning on returning her to you, saying that we got her back from whoever stole her. But then you went and announced that the project was a failure, and that there was no way you’d want it back. When I found out, I felt horrible.”

Obadiah laughed. “How did you find out about that? You never showed up to work after that day.”

Margie shrugged. “I’ve got my ways.”

“Okay. Well, once you found out that the project was useless to you, why did you keep it?”

Margie narrowed her eyes. She thought about when she had found out the truth, after Ava was already three years old. That day, Ava had waddled over to her in that awkward way children had of walking. It was before the kid had learned that it was best to stay away from her parents. She had reached up and Margie had picked her up, rather reluctantly, only to stop her from screaming. 

The child held out something, and Margie graciously accepted the gift. It was a bracelet of little seashells, and the girl looked so proud of herself. Something in the woman told her not to get rid of the kid. She was already used to the little girl’s presence, and it would feel wrong to make it go away. But there needed to be boundaries. She threw the bracelet down with disgust, and put the kid down. She told Ava to just leave her alone and stop bothering her.

“Mrs Bench? Are you still with us?”

Margie blinked and pulled herself back to the present. She snapped at Obadiah, “Yeah I’m still here. I’m going back to the apartment, contact me as soon as anything happens.”

She hurried away, absent-mindedly twisting the worn away leather cord between her fingers, the way she always did, and sped up so she could get home as quickly as possible. Obadiah creeped her out. She ran her finger gently over the only chipped shell, and kept walking.


	21. Chapter 21

Ava looked around at the Avengers with wide eyes. She had heard of them before, obviously, it was hard not to, considering how famous they were. But to actually be seeing them, up close, that was crazy. Ava wasn’t even sure that this wasn’t some huge prank, with everyone snickering at her behind her back.  
They were all staring at her like she was some kind of alien that they’d never seen before, and it was making the girl feel very uncomfortable. She looked to Bruce, he seemed to be the safest of the group. “Is there a phone or something that I could borrow?”  
The scientist glanced over at Tony, who was practically gulping down an entire bottle of 1928 Macallan, which cost almost fifty thousand dollars a bottle. He wasn’t sure what to tell Ava. He wasn’t sure whether or not she would even be able to contact her parents at whatever number she knew, and he definitely had no idea why Ava seemed to be under the illusion that her parents would care.  
Tony groaned, and rubbed his eyes. A small, selfish, part of him wished that Ava was still in her coma, because at least then he would know where to find her, and that she was alive. And that she still knew him. He had no clue what to do in this situation, and none of the Avengers were any help at all.  
He walked over to the girl, and bent down a little so he could look her in the eyes and seem less intimidating. “Ava… who do you need to call?”  
Her eyes were focused on the floor, like she suddenly realized that linoleum was the most fascinating thing in the world. “My parents. They must be worried sick about me.”  
Tony sighed, and stood up. He left the room, and went out into the hallway, where he could pace back and forth. Pepper followed him out. “Tony…”  
He kept pacing. “Why can’t she just admit that they’re terrible people?”  
Pepper sighed. “Tony, she never told us about her parents and we’ve known her for almost a year and a half by now. What makes you think she would confide in you now, when she clearly doesn’t know any of us?”  
Tony shrugged irritably. “Hell if I know. And why is she suddenly so shy? Even when we first met she was nothing like this, so don’t just say that all her confidence was built up by her time here.”  
Pepper grabbed his arm to stop him from pacing. “Will you stop that?”  
He yanked his limb back. “What?”  
She groaned. “The pacing, for one. And it would also be nice if you would just stop thinking for a moment. Nobody needs a moody genius who overthinks everything.” She sighed, and spoke pleadingly. “Just talk to her. Make her feel comfortable enough to stick around for a bit.”  
Tony suddenly felt a wave of guilt. He was so selfish, only thinking about how much he missed Ava, and it didn’t even occur to him to think about how there were other people cared. “I’m sorry. It’s just, crazy. I guess that there’s no better word for all of this. But she looks like she’s going to bolt any second if anyone gets too close to her, and I don’t know what to do.”  
Pepper made a mock gasping sound. “Tony Stark, extraordinaire, admits that he doesn’t know what to do? I never thought that I would live to see the day.” She laughed. “Come on, let’s go talk to her. Maybe you’ll be able to jog her memory just by being there.”  
The two adults went back into the living room. Ava was still sitting on the edge of the couch, looking very awkward. Tony could almost imagine her things strewn out on the couch next to her, a sight her had become very used to. He glanced at Bruce, and the man shook his head. Ava still had no clue what was going on.  
Tony noticed that the other Avengers had cleared out, probably realizing that they were only serving to make Ava feel even more uncomfortable in what was a foreign environment to her. Tony sat down on the other end of the couch, giving the teen plenty of space. He stared straight ahead, at the blank television screen.   
He was a little curious about a few things. “So Ava, what’s your last name?” At her hesitation, he casually added, “So we can contact your parents and let them know that you’re okay.”  
She glanced over at him, and he pretended not to notice. “Um… Bench. My parents are Margie and Stan Bench.”  
Tony didn’t react, but he found it interesting that she was willing to give up her last name now, but when they had first met she told him that she had no last name. “They sound like very nice people.”

There was an almost inaudible scoff from Ava. She cleared her throat. “How did I… how did I get here?”

Tony sighed. “Do you want to know the full story?” She nodded slowly. “Okay, I’ll make a long story short. I saved your life, and you came here to live with me.” At her narrowed eyes, he added, “Purely platonic, I promise.”

She sighed. “Oh.” She looked over at Pepper. “Who are you?”

Pepper had introduced herself to everyone she met as ‘Pepper’ Potts for as long as she could remember, but she knew that that name would sound weird coming from Ava’s mouth. The girl had insisted on calling her Virginia, and it was acceptable, expected, even. “Virginia Potts. Mr Stark’s personal assistant and… significant other.”

Tony rolled his eyes at that. “You know, it isn’t breaking any laws for you to call yourself my girlfriend.”

Pepper shrugged. “It sounds rather unprofessional, don’t you think?”

Ava interrupted in her soft, timid voice. “Sorry, but I don’t understand. Are you saying that I’ve been living in the Stark Tower for over a year? What about my parents? Do they know about this?”

Tony shrugged. “They didn’t for a while, as far as I know. But due to certain events that have transpired recently, I’m almost certain that they’re now aware of the arrangement.”

Ava stood up. “I’m really tired, if you could please just let me borrow a phone, have my parents come pick me up-”

Tony stood up, and couldn’t help his raised voice. “Do you really think that they’d come for you?”

She shrank back a little. Pepper smacked Tony in the back of the head. “You idiot,” she hissed at him. “Do you not realize how awful that made you sound?”

Tony sighed, and looked at Ava apologetically. He wasn’t used to seeing her back away in fright, not from him, not from anyone. She had gone up against those giant robots without a drop of hesitation, so seeing her so scared now was heartbreaking. He spoke in a soft voice. “That’s not how I meant for that to sound. I just mean that maybe it would be best for you to stay the night, and we’ll discuss everything in the morning.”

Ava shook her head. “I just want to go home.”

Tony glanced at Bruce and Pepper, and both of them looked just as puzzled as him about how to deal with this. There was no way they could send Ava home, there was no one there even if he wanted to return her. And he didn’t want her to go. He would figure out a way to restore her memory, and everything would go back to normal. He hoped.


	22. Chapter 22

Ava sighed. She was sitting on the comfy bed that Bruce had led her to. She liked the doctor, he was nice, and he didn’t shout, and he didn’t smell like booze. She looked around the room that was supposedly hers. It wasn’t exactly what she would have imagined for herself, but there was a part of her that really liked the space.

She got up and went to stand in front of the full length mirror. Her hair was longer than she remembered, but it was still the same smooth black color. She was a little paler than she recalled, and a little heavier. But she was sure that she was still very underweight. She looked at her clothes. 

A pale purple skirt, and a light peasant tunic. She had found them in the closet, and since she no longer looked quite so emaciated, she was okay with not wearing jeans and a tee shirt. She looked over at the clothes she had shed. They had mysterious reddish-brown stains on them, and she had seen enough tv to know that it was blood.

The girl’s eyes were caught by a shelf that was in the reflection, and she turned around to investigate. It was actually a dresser, and the top had lots of picture frames on it, most of them looking very fancy and expensive. There was one that was simpler than the others, and she picked it up to study closer.

It seemed to confirm that she had indeed been living in the tower, since it was a picture of her, Tony, and Pepper, all sitting around a table. They didn’t look like they were posing at all, it was almost surprise on their faces that someone had taken the photo. But they were happy, not angry.

On the table was a cake, and Tony and Ava were wearing party hats, while Pepper was wearing a real looking tiara, designating her as the birthday girl. She had a spot of cake smudged on her nose, apparently the cause of Tony and Ava’s amusement. There was something that looked like a little robot in the background, holding a carton of ice cream.

The subjects of the photo looked almost surreal, the way the light was shining on them at just the right angle, making them look like they were being illuminated by God’s own spotlight. Ava felt a pang of longing. She would never have any pictures like this around her parents’ house. But it wasn’t them that Ava wanted to see.

She may be completely introverted and almost impossible to talk with in any social situation, but she did have friends. When she was just a kid, she had been playing around in her backyard, and she slipped and fell into the pool. Her parents weren’t home, and she was quickly drowning, with no idea how to swim.

One of her neighbors had been passing by the place, Mirand Goom, and she dove into the pool to rescue the flailing toddler. She administered CPR to get the water out of the kid’s lungs, and then they both just laid on the grassy lawn for a while.

For the following five years, Mirand was Ava’s closest ally and friend. The woman was always nice to Ava, giving her food or a place to stay when she needed it. When Ava was seven, Mirand’s father had a heart attack, and he died. The woman had to move from New York to Wyoming to raise her younger brother, who was still only a minor at the time.

Before she had left, Mirand had given Ava her contact information, in case of dire emergencies only. Ava had been planning on calling Mirand. If she had to, she would beg to just stay in a spare closet or something. All of her best memories were with Mirand, and it was all she knew. 

But according to this picture, she had had better memories since then. And she wanted nothing more than to be that girl in the photo, with the carefree grin on her face. She put the picture back on the dresser. It was easy to see where it belonged since it was the only long rectangular spot with no dust on it. She wondered why it looked like she hadn’t lived in her own room for a while.

There was a polite knock at the door, and Ava took a deep breath. “Come in.”

Tony opened the door and stepped inside. He spotted the dirty clothes on the floor, and smiled. “I guess you were never one to be neat, right?” He nodded towards an open spot on the bed. “May I?” At Ava’s nod, he plopped down. 

Before he could say anything, she spoke first. “I don’t… I don’t have much of anything to go back to from here. So I may as well stick around.” Then she held her breath. What if Tony had just showed up to tell her that he didn’t want her around after all?

There was a brief look of shock flitting across his face, and then it was gone, replaced with total and utter relief. “Oh, thank god. I didn’t think that you would actually want to stay, but you do, and that’s amazing. What changed your mind, if I may ask?”

She shrugged, and glanced over at the collection of pictures. “I guess, I guess I just want to see what I’m missing out on. I look really happy in those pictures, happier than I can ever remember being. I just want to be like that. To be happy.”

Tony smiled gently. “You were happy here. We all were. You brightened this place up, in your own way. Can I show you something?”

Ava nodded. Tony got up, and motioned for her to follow him. She spoke cautiously as they got onto the elevator. “Where are we going?”

He grinned. “There’s something I want you to see. I don’t know… maybe it’ll jog your memory, maybe it won’t, but either way, I want you to at least see it.”

They got to a random floor, and it seemed to be empty. She looked around. “What is this?”

Tony laughed. “After the tower was destroyed a couple of years ago, we worked hard to repair it. But there was so much work to get done, and there wasn’t time to focus on every floor to get the place functional again, so this one was kind of overlooked. It’s more like a storage room now.”

“Storage for what?”

Tony walked over to the wall, and Ava gasped. It was covered by a giant mural, the words ‘Happy Birthday’ surrounded by the city, and when she looked through the thin paper, and at the city view, it looked almost identical. “This is what I wanted you to see. I had to cut off a little bit of it to make it fit in here, since it would have been destroyed by the elements if I left it outside.”

Ava gasped. “I didn’t know you could draw.”

“I didn’t do this. You did, it was your gift to me on my birthday, do you remember that?”

Ava shook her head. “No… but I want to. I’m willing to try and remember.”

Tony grinned and pulled her into a hug, and even though she stiffened, she didn’t shove him away.


	23. Chapter 23

Tony led Ava back to her floor. As she followed him through the main room, she heard a muffled bleating coming from the other side of the large space. She turned to look at him with puzzlement, and Jarvis was the one who answered the unspoken question. “Sir, I believe that Master Frederick wishes to see Ava.”

Ava frowned. “Who’s Master Frederick? And why does the voice call everyone by a title except for me?”

Tony smiled. “I can’t believe I forgot to introduce you to Frederick. He’s your… pet, for lack of a better word.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Let him out.” There was the sound of a door opening, and Ava watched with wide eyes as a goat shot out of one of the rooms, and ran towards her.

She stood frozen in place, not sure if the animal meant to run her right over or not. She watched with amazement as the creature pulled himself to an abrupt stop right in front of her, then bowed his head, much like the way a dog does to show he wants to be pet. Ava glanced at Tony, and he nodded encouragingly.

Ava reached forward slowly, and placed her hand on top of the warm head. His hair was soft and silky, and he bleated happily. She smiled a little bit, or at least it looked like the closest thing to a smile that the teen seemed capable of at the moment. She sighed. “Why a goat named Frederick? Why not a puppy named Spot or something?”

The billionaire shrugged. “You have no idea how upsetting it was to come home after an exhausting day, only to find a goat suddenly taking residence in my home, eating my shoes.” He laughed. “You never told me anything about him other than ‘there’s a lot of crap you can find on the internet’, or something like that.”

Ava crouched down, and Frederick shoved his face into her shoulder, and his bleating was quiet. “What’s wrong, Frederick?”

Tony smiled kindly. “I think I can answer that one. Though if Frederick answered for himself, I can’t honestly say that that would surprise me. But I think that he’s missed you.”  
Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean? I thought I’ve been living here all the time. Why would he miss someone who he can see everyday?”

“Well, I know that this is all a lot to take in, and I don’t want to give you even more to think about when you clearly already have enough on your plate…” He trailed off when he saw Ava’s serious look. Tony sighed. “You were in a coma for three months.”

Ava looked almost impressed. “Wow, I can’t say that I was expecting that. What happened to put me in a coma?”

Tony sighed. He wasn’t sure how to say the next part so that he would be telling only the truth, but maybe not all of it. Ava wasn’t ready to hear that she had been a superhero for a day, and that she had been knocked out of commission by the enemy. He still remembered chewing Fury out later that day, after he was told that Ava might never make a full recovery. Fury had never told them that there was a second robot, and if he had mentioned that tidbit of information, then Ava wouldn’t have dropped her guard so drastically after defeating the first one.

“It was… you were injured by a bad guy that we, the Avengers, I mean, were fighting, and you were dropped almost fifty feet to the ground, and it’s amazing that you survived that at all.”

Ava nodded, accepting that partial truth. She didn’t want to know why she had been in the same place as a villain, or anything like that. She was curious about something else, though. “The clothes… the ones I changed out of, that I was wearing when I woke up in your workshop, they had… blood on them… right?” She took a deep breath. “It was a lot. How did that… What happened?”

Now this was an even trickier question for Tony. Technically, he had been the one who beat her up. No, not technically, it was just a straight fact. But there was no way to describe the entire situation, how she had been under some kind of mind control, and how Obadiah had set it up to be some kind of twisted and sick fight to the death. 

Tony spoke slowly and carefully, choosing each word with precision. “You were… beat up… by someone who you were… against…. due to certain outside influences.”

Ava frowned. “That sounds… oddly vague and ominous.” Then she blushed and turned away. She hoped that Tony wasn’t going to be angry with her for doubting his story that lacked all the details. 

But the genius didn’t appear to be mad. He just grinned. “You know, we used to talk all the time, and you never had any problem speaking your mind. It was… it is… was… one of my favorite things about you. Even Pepper, my own girlfriend, is cautious about what she says. Most people try to tiptoe around me, like they’re afraid that I won’t be able to handle what they have to say.”

Ava looked confused. “Who’s Pepper?”

Tony sighed. “Oh, right, she introduced herself to you as Virginia, since that’s what you always called her anyways.”

Ava nodded. “Oh. I guess that sort of makes sense. But why did you just call her Pepper?”

“Well, that’s pretty much her name at this point. Everyone, other than you, calls her that. It actually started because she was working for me, and she noticed some things that were… wrong… and she was just a low level employee so I didn’t have the time to meet with her, but she knew that it was urgent, so she stormed into my office, by spraying pepper spray into the eyes of my bodyguard. I called her Pepper as a joke, and somehow, that name just kind of stuck.”

Ava nodded. Everything around this place was interesting, and the things she had seen in the basement workshop were definitely neat, but that was the most fascinating thing she’d heard in a long time. And somehow, she could imagine calling the woman by her actual name, not out of spite, but maybe affection. She wondered about the relationship between herself and the red head. 

“Do we get along? Me and Virginia?”

Tony laughed. “When you two first met, I thought I would have to do something very drastic to keep you apart, because you would pick a fight just being in the same room. But now…” He wondered if it was too soon to tell Ava that Pepper had called herself Ava’s real parent. It probably was. “Now you two are thick as thieves.”

Ava smiled. “Thanks. At least I’ve gotten one honest answer so far.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. All these things just kept slipping out, and she had no idea why. But when Tony only smiled in response, Ava knew that she was going to be alright.


	24. Chapter 24

Tony walked into the kitchen, his eyes half closed. He was tired, but he couldn’t sleep. His slumber hadn’t been plagued with nightmares of the wars he’d fought in, not since Ava first moved in, but now his dreams were worse. The deaths he kept seeing were Ava’s and Pepper’s. He flicked the light switch, and jumped back in surprise when he saw that Ava was already in the kitchen.

She was on the stool that she always sat on, her head on the table on top of her arms. She slowly sat up, and blinked in the sudden light. She looked around in confusion. “Sorry, I didn’t meant to fall asleep in your kitchen…”

Tony shook his head, and went over to sit on the stool next to Ava’s. “No, it’s fine. What were you doing in here in the dark?”

Ava smiled. “I couldn’t sleep. Everytime I tried, I would… well… I came in here because whenever I couldn’t sleep in the past, I would always make something, when we had ingredients laying around. But I didn’t know where to find anything in here, and I guess I fell asleep, and someone must have turned the lights off? I don’t really know.”

Tony chuckled. “It was probably Jarvis, the AI. He practically runs the place, you know. He must not have wanted to disturb you.”

Ava yawned. “Tell him thanks.”

Tony laughed. “He’s not a human being, he doesn’t sleep. And he’s probably listening to us right now.”

Ava shivered. “That’s a little creepy, don’t you think?” She slid off of the stool. “Can I ask you something?”

Tony nodded. “Of course. Feel free to speak your mind and ask anything you want. This is a safe place.”

The teen smiled gratefully. “I was just wondering… how well do we know each other. I mean, you must know me way better than I know you, since you’ve known me for a year and I’ve only known you for a day.” Tony waited patiently for her to get to the actual question. “You said earlier that you took me in after you saved my life… So I just want to know why, I guess. Why did you save my life?”

Tony sighed. “It’s… complicated…”

Ava nodded. “I saw how you looked when I mentioned the bridge. I’m not stupid, for me, that was just yesterday that I was heading there, so of course I remember my intentions. Why would you save someone who is an attempted murderer?”

The billionaire frowned. “What do you mean? You’re not a murderer.”

Ava shrugged. “I said ‘attempted’. Because killing anybody, that’s murder. Even if the person you’re killing is yourself. So why did you save me?”

“At first… I convinced myself that I saw you get pushed, even though there was no one else there on that bridge. I forced myself to believe that you hadn’t jumped willingly, so I was saving your life, doing you a favor. When we got back here, and you finally woke up, you told me that I had to take responsibility and kill you myself. I looked into your eyes, and saw… something. Like you were so sad that you didn’t even consider yourself sad anymore…” He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m just rambling. I suppose that there was something about you that seemed familiar, and you were so interesting… But I guess in the end what it came down to was that I couldn’t have a child’s life on my conscious.”

The teen crossed her arms over her chest. “Hey, I’m not a child, I’m already sixteen. Well, I guess if you count that entire year that I can’t remember, I’m already seventeen. I’m practically an adult already.”

Tony slipped off of his stool, and went over to the counter. He could easily ask Jarvis to start up the coffee maker, but he decided to just do it himself. He opened a cabinet to pull out a mug, and glanced over at Ava. “Want some?”

Ava paused, then shook her head. “No thank you. I don’t like coffee.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? You’ve always accepted it when I offer it to you…” 

Ava shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She knew that she had probably only accepted the beverage because she hadn’t wanted to seem rude by turning down something that Tony had offered her. But she thought that coffee was disgusting, and she always had, so she wasn’t going to choke any of it down. It would just be a waste.

Tony sighed. “How about some tea?” He couldn’t help thinking how young Ava looked, and her refusal of coffee, a very much appreciated drink for adults, made her seem even more childish. “Extra dark, right?”

Ava nodded politely. She had nothing against tea. It wasn’t her favorite drink, but she could tolerate it, especially when it steeped for a while, and she didn’t want to keep turning down the olive branches that Tony was giving her. “That would be nice, thank you.” While the water was heating up, there was the sound of footsteps, and then Pepper entered the kitchen, pulling her bathrobe tighter.

The woman looked at Ava and Tony. “What’s going on here? A late night party, and I wasn’t invited?”

Tony went over to give Pepper a quick kiss. “What are you doing up so late?”

She shrugged. “You weren’t in bed, and I got worried.”

Ava jumped down gently onto the floor as Tony poured the hot tea. She yawned again, though this time it seemed to be fake. “I should probably be getting to bed. You shouldn’t encourage students to stay up so late.” She started to walk away, then turned around. “Wait… do I still go to school? What should I say when they ask me why I was absent today?”

Tony shook his head. “You have a tutor who comes here every other day, and gives you all the same work that you would be getting at school. I think originally I even said I'd be your tutor, but it was obvious pretty quickly that that wasn't going to work out.”

Ava wrinkled her nose. “That sounds like the most horrible torture I can ever imagine. Not even one other student to occasionally distract the teacher? Yuck.” She shook her head. “Good night. Or, good morning, if you want to get technical about it.”

Tony frowned. “You’re not even going to stay for tea?”

Ava sighed. “Well, I wouldn’t have wanted you to make all that extra water for nothing…”

Pepper recognized that Ava really wanted to get out of there, but was being too polite to say so. She decided to give the girl a break. “Actually, I came down for some tea, so the water wouldn’t really be going to waste at all.”

Ava nodded thankfully, and hurried away. Tony took out the tea bag, and handed a full mug to Pepper. “I’m worried. What if she never goes back to normal?”

Pepper narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, ‘back to normal’?”

Tony sighed. “Back to when she trusted me. Back to when she was just a carefree kid. She deserves that, you know.”

Pepper nodded, and took a sip of tea. “I know.” Then she put the mug down. “You left the bag in for too long.” She hugged him, then turned to go back up to their room on one of the higher floors.


	25. Chapter 25

Ava stared at the goat, and Frederick stared back at the human just as intensely. Neither of them was willing to give in. Ava might be a completely pushover when it comes to people, but she refused to let this goat get her goat. She spoke slowly, as if that would make the animal understand her any better. “I. Said. To. Drop. That. Shoe. Now.”

Frederick bleated in response, and in doing so, he opened his mouth, which meant the shoe in question was dropped. Ava dived forward and snatched it up, then did an awkward spy roll away. The goat bleated in defeat, and began to walk away. Ava waited, and the second she could hear the hooves clicking on tile instead of muffled on carpet, she shot forward, and slammed her bedroom door.

There was a strange whirring sound coming from the ceiling, and Ava jumped back in surprise. That bodiless voice spoke. “Don’t be alarmed Ava, it’s just me.”

Ava was still a little creeped out at the thought of a machine who acted like a human, who could see and hear everything going on around the tower at all times. It had already been three days since she woke up in the workshop, and she was still having trouble adjusting. But surprisingly, it had been easier to stay than she thought, since everything she owned in the tower were things that she had picked out, she liked them all.

And Tony was being really great, even if most conversations between them were pretty awkward. They would start out normal enough, with Tony doing most of the talking, and Ava occasionally responding in her whisper voice. But after a few minutes, he would always start to get off topic, and would just end up talking about the Ava he knew. That was usually when Ava excused herself and made her way to her sanctuary of a room.

But she couldn’t stay in her room all the time, since she did need to eat, and Pepper was usually present to act as a buffer during mealtimes. She seemed to understand Ava’s need for space much better than Tony did, but Ava felt bad for the man. He was obviously trying so hard to connect with her, and she wasn’t even sure why.

She had no redeeming qualities or interesting values that would make her a good person to be on good terms with. She had no fancy connections or large amount of money, and currently she was freeloading off of an internationally famous billionaire genius superhero. 

Ava put on the show she had won back, and she left her room, ignoring Jarvis, and made sure to shut the door behind her so Frederick couldn’t get back in. She took the elevator down to the first floor, and went into the kitchen. Tony was already standing at the stove, making something that smelled good, while Pepper was lounging on her couch in the living room.

The teen went into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Pepper. She felt pretty comfortable next to the woman, who wasn’t constantly trying to compare her to a person she never even remembered being. The news was on the big television, and Ava watched with boredom. 

Her eyes widened, and she focused her attention on the tv when she thought she heard a familiar name. The news anchor, who looked vaguely familiar, was in the middle of her report, and there, in the corner of the screen, was a picture of Ava’s parents. She snatched the remote from where it was resting on the empty couch cushion, and turned up the volume. “-days. Police are asking that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Stanley and Margaret Bench call in immediately, using the number below.” Then the picture changed, and the news lady’s eyes dimmed a little bit, and she actually looked genuinely sad. “Also reported missing is the Bench’s only child, seventeen-year-old Avalon Bench. Please, if anyone has any information on the Bench family, call the number below as soon as possible.”

Ava gasped simultaneously with Pepper. She jumped up, and began pacing back and forth across the living room. “I don’t understand, what’s going on?”

Tony walked in with two plates of food. His smile dropped off his face as soon as he saw how distressed Ava looked. He put the plated down on the coffee table, and pulled off the apron that he was wearing. For the past three days, he had been not so subtly showing off everything Ava had ever given him, used touched, or looked at. But he could tell that something was wrong, and now wasn’t the time to work on returning her memory.

“What’s wrong?”

Pepper stood up and pulled Tony close to her in a tight hug. She spoke in whispers, because she had no idea how much Ava would be able to handle. “There was just a news report. The entire bench family has been reported missing, parents and child. And since they run a major corporation, and no one’s seen them in a very long time, and their house was found completely cleaned out, there’s a lot of speculation going on. But I guess Ava never knew about that stuff.”

Tony didn’t understand. Was Ava upset because she thought that something had happened to her parents? And if so, why? They were terrible people, and even she hadn’t wanted to go back home and live with them, because she thought they were so awful. So why was so concerned all of a sudden.

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “I need to go out and find them.”

Tony coughed. “No, you’re certainly not! You just got back here, you need to stay for a little longer, and besides, how are you planning on finding these people? You have no resources or connections or, well, anything.”

Ava raised one eyebrow. Her voice was still soft, but it sounded the most confident that it had in days. “You’re being a real jerk, you know. I will go out and knock on every door, and peep through every window if that’s what it takes. They’re my parents, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to them.”

Tony sighed with exasperation. “But why not? They were horrible people, and obviously really bad parents. So why are you so desperate to find them? And what if they’re not hurt or kidnapped, or whatever else you’re thinking is possible? What if they simply decided to pack up and leave?”

Ava shrugged. “They’re my parents, and maybe they didn’t raise me the way they were supposed to, and they didn’t nurture me and care for me all the time. They are busy people, and I understand that. But it’s not always… it’s not always like that. There were times when they were almost good, decent people to me. And no matter what they’ve done, they don’t deserve something bad to happen to them. Who would just pack up their entire house and move away without one word to anyone, and leaving behind their daughter? Something must have happened to them.”

Tony shook his head adamantly. “I’m not letting you go. It’s too dangerous.”

Ava stared at him stubbornly. “You don’t want to save them? Then fine. You won’t be able to save me either. I’ll find a way to off myself, this time for good. So you have a choice. You keep me, and my parents, alive, or all of us go. It’s up to you.”

Tony frowned. “You… you’re something else, aren’t you?” He sighed. “Fine, I’ll help you look for your parents. But I’m not doing this for them, I’m doing it for you. And I don’t even know why you’re doing it.”

Ava shrugged. “They’re my parents, and even if they ignore me, or act like they hate me sometimes, I still love them. I still respect them. That’s just something that every human being deserves, isn’t it?”

Tony sighed and shook his head. He wished that he could think of some way to argue with her. Maybe forbid her from coming along. But then she would be here all by herself, and that wouldn’t be a very good idea. He bowed his head in defeat.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a general note to please excuse minor continuity errors because this story was written over a fairly long period of time.

They stepped out of the car, and Tony pulled off his sunglasses to look around. He was wearing one of his favorite suits, and he was glad that he had changed out of his band tee shirt and jeans. He hadn’t really had a good chance to look around last time he was here, since he had been too busy searching for Ava. But he could now see that it was a very nice neighborhood, the type of place he would live in if he was the community sort.

Ava also looked around, then began to walk up the path to the front porch. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a key. Tony frowned. “Where did you get that?”

Ava peered back at him with a small frown. “I found it in my room, and I know it’s my house key. I’d rather get in the legal way, since there are alarm systems, and apparently I’m a missing person.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Then tell me again why we’re not just going to the police station and telling everyone that you’re alive and well?”

Ava shuddered at the thought of being in a noisy police station, surrounded by criminals and shouting officers, and being chained up in handcuffs in an interrogation room somewhere. “No thank you.” She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Tony heard her large gasp of surprise. She looked around, and glanced back at Tony. “Where…?”

She raced to the large grand staircase that was located in the center of the huge entrance hall, and she ran up the stairs. The teen rushed to the end of the second floor hallway, and shoved the door open. She burst in, and she couldn’t help the automatic intake of breath. The entire house was empty, every little thing was gone.

Except for this one room. It had always been Ava’s sanctuary, like a safe zone that her parents were incapable of entering. She had always believed that once she stepped inside and closed the door, she was in her own little world, and no one would be able to disturb her or harm her. She looked around as realization hit her.

Everything that was missing, which was the entire house excluding her bedroom, were all the things that belonged to her parents. Ava’s only worldly possessions were in this one room. She could only think of two reasons why her things had been left behind. Either her parents hadn’t even cared enough to bother taking her things, or to enter her room, even, or… maybe these things had been left behind on purpose, for her to find.

The room looked just like she remembered it, nothing was out of place, and Ava felt her eyes tearing up. She wanted so badly to believe that it was the second option, that her parents had known how much she would need these things. After all, since she couldn’t recall any of her time with Tony, all the things in her room at the tower were foreign to her. 

What little there was in this room brought back many memories, and much comfort that she hadn’t been aware that she was in need of. Ava slowly walked forward and looked around, like she had to confirm that nothing had been touched. She walked over to her bed and plopped onto it, letting herself bounce on the comfy mattress for a moment. Then she sat up, and there was her mirror, on the wall across from the bed.

She went over to it, and stared at herself. She looked different. It had been easier to shrug it off back at the tower, because that hadn’t really been her bedroom, her clothes, her mirror. But here, there was no denying it. She could still vividly remember glancing at herself in the mirror before setting off for school just the other day.

There was a soft ‘oh’, and Ava spun around. Tony was standing in the doorway, looking around the room with obvious interest. He had been rushing through before, and the house was huge, and the door to this room was practically hidden in a little crook behind what was most likely a closet before it was cleared out. But even though it was so out of the way, it was still hard to believe that he had passed by the only furnished room in the building on his first sweep through.

“So, I’m assuming this is your room?” He could see it was similar to her room at the tower. Both rooms were painted a pale blue, and had posters of random nerdy shows hanging up, like Doctor Who and Star Trek. They both had those glow is the dark star stickers plastered all over the ceiling, and a full length mirror that could be seen from the bed. They both had a dresser right next to the mirror, with picture frames on top, though when Tony looked closer, he could see that these frames still had the photos of models in them that they came with. There were no dirty clothes lying around, and he assumed that they were hanging up neatly in the closet.

But even though the rooms belonged to the same person, and it was pretty easy to guess that at a glance, Tony could tell that this room felt much more… lonely. Like no one else had ever even been inside, and he had no doubt that that was the truth, or at least very close to it. 

Ava nodded, and spoke softly. “Yeah, this is… was… my room. It seems to be the only room in the house that has anything left in it, including dust. I guess no one’s bothered to come around and sweep the place at all, or vacuum the carpet, even.” She looked down at the floor with a droopy look on his face. “I guess you were right after all. They did just leave on their own, without me.”

Tony sighed. He wanted to just tell her that that was exactly what happened, and that they didn’t care, but he knew that that was wrong. “Listen, Ava… I’m sure they had their reasons for leaving. Maybe they just thought that they were giving you your best chance, and it wasn’t going to be with them. I know that, they know that. It seems like you’re the only one who doesn’t understand that they can’t care for you the way they need to, the way you deserve to be taken care of. Will you give this up now?”

Ava was about to nod, when something caught her eyes. It was a glint coming from underneath her bed. That was odd, because Ava had never stored things under her bed, and now she was curious about what could be there. Had someone been in her room in the past year after all?

She turned away and dropped down to her knees once she was next to the bed. She reached slowly under the bed, half afraid that there would be some kind of scary monster that was going to chop off her hand or something. Her fingers brushed against cool metal, and she grabbed the edge of a rather large box.

Ava reached with the other arm, and dragged the heavy container out after a lot of maneuvering. It was a silver chest, without even a single layer of dust on the top. It had an old-fashioned padlock keeping it securely shut. Tony tilted his head curiously. “What’s that?”

Ava shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s not mine.” She tried to open the lock, but it was secure. She sighed. “I wish that I had the key or something.”

Tony stepped forward. He wanted Ava to just be able to let go of the past, and that wasn’t going to happen if she still had more mysteries hanging over her head. He glanced around, and spotted that one of the picture frames looked heavier than the others. He picked it up, and squatted next to Ava. He held the frame forward. “Do you care about this?”

The teen shook her head. “It’s no one I know in there. What are you going to-”

Tony raised the frame, then swung it down. It collided with the lock with a loud clang. He repeated the action a few times, until finally, the lock cracked, and opened a little. Tony grabbed it and yanked it off the rest of the way. He took a step back. “It’s all yours.”

Ava reached forward apprehensively, then raised the lid. Her eyes widened, and she gasped. Tony glanced into the chest, and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Ava reached inside. “It’s…” She breathed out, apparently too overwhelmed to finish that sentence.


	27. Chapter 27

Tony stared into the chest, then looked at Ava’s face. She reached forward, and Tony couldn’t help frowning. It was just some old book. What was the big deal?. But she had an adoring look in her eyes, and she reached forward to remove the contents of the container. She was holding a book, and it was old, but fancy.

It had a leather strap wrapped around it, that connected to a gold buckle. She undid the buckle, and opened the book. The pages were all filled with the same tiny print, that looked almost like typed words. Occasionally there were small drawings and diagrams. 

Ava recognized the book. She had only seen it once before, when her mother was writing in it one night. It was one of those times when her mom had actually been not too bad. She was probably drunk at the time, but she had been sitting at the kitchen counter, writing in the beautiful notebook.

Ava had asked what that was, and her mom had told her it was her diary, where she was recording the results of a long-term experiment. Ava wanted to read it, but when she looked around the house for it the next day, she couldn’t find it anywhere, and she didn’t dare go into her parents room. The book had never been mentioned again, but Ava never forgot about it, for some reason it had stuck in her mind. 

“I wonder why she would leave this for me.” Ava murmured to herself. Tony shrugged, even though he knew that Ava wasn’t paying attention to him at all. Tony peered closer as Ava began to read the first page. The date was about seventeen years ago at this point. That was a long time to hold onto a notebook.

But as Tony skimmed the page, certain words popped out at him, words that didn’t belong in some diary. From what he was reading, there had been some kind of experiment. Ava gasped, and before Tony could see what had alarmed her, she snapped the book shut, and hastily redid the clasp. 

She stood up, and clutched the book tightly. “I’d prefer to not stick around here.”

Tony nodded. “Then let’s go.” He didn’t let on how curious he was about what was written in the book. He wondered who had wrote it if it wasn’t Ava, and why they had left it under her bed in the only room in the house that was still furnished. As they left the room, Ava shut the door and then they went back down to the foyer. 

There were several police officers just walking into the building as Tony and Ava reached the first floor. A look of surprise flitted across their faces, before they drew their guns and pointed them at Tony. “You’re trespassing…”

Ava’s eyes widened. She wanted to say that they weren’t trespassing, because it was her house, but her voice caught in the throat. She was still feeling uncomfortable around Tony and Pepper, let alone a bunch of strangers that she didn’t even know, even if they were the good guys. Tony held out his arms to show that he had no weapons. “I’m with a resident of this house, so I’m not really trespassing. She let me in.”

One of the officers stepped forward, a suspicious look on his face. “A neighbor called and said that she saw suspicious persons entering the house. The family that lives here has been missing for a while now.” He stared at Ava a few minutes, before deciding that she was one of the faces he had seen all around the station lately. He lowered his gun, but motioned for the other three to keep their weapons trained on Tony. “Sweetheart, are you okay? Are you hurt?” Ava shook her head. He turned to his men. “Arrest him for kidnapping.”

One of the other four went over to the officer that was their leader. “Sir… I’m not sure that we can arrest Tony Stark for anything, or at least anything less than murder. You know how it is with celebrities.”

The leader growled. “He should have thought about that before going and kidnapping an innocent kid for apparently no good reason.”

Ava gulped, but she knew that she had to speak up, or things wouldn’t end well for anyone involved. Her voice came out even softer than normal, but the officer still somehow heard her. “Wait, he didn’t kidnap me. I was with him willingly.”

The officer frowned. “It’s okay to tell the truth now, he won’t be able to hurt you, I promise.”

Ava shook her head. “There was no crime. I swear.”

The officer continued to look suspicious, but there was really nothing that he could do. Ava lived in the house, so she could enter and bring whatever guests she wanted with her, and if she wasn’t going to press charges for kidnapping, then they couldn’t arrest Tony. He still didn’t feel right about just leaving, though. Something was off about this situation.

Ava tilted her head and stared up at him with her innocent green eyes. “I promise, there’s nothing wrong going on here.”

The officer frowned. “What about your parents? Where are they?”

The teen sighed. She was shaking all over, and it didn’t really help Tony’s case that she looked so frightened. “They left. They needed a break from all of this,” She waved her arms to gesture to the entire house, “so they decided to leave. There’s no law saying that they need to tell anyone, is there?”

His frown deepened. “So they just moved away, without saying a word to anybody, and left you with… this man?”

Tony spoke up. “I appreciate your diligence, but I believe that Ava’s made it clear that there was no kidnapping involved here.”

The officer turned to leave, but something occurred to him. “Wait, if there was no kidnapping involved here, then why didn’t you go to the police to inform them that you’re safe and well?” He raised one eyebrow and looked at Tony triumphantly, like he had just caught a criminal in the middle of a lie.

Tony sighed. “She has anxiety, and we were just recently, very recently, made aware that there was even any missing persons report for her.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Margie and Stan Bench were first reported missing three weeks ago, but Ava Bench was reported missing ten months ago. Even if the parents did just pack up and leave one night, that doesn’t explain where Ava’s been for the past ten months.”

Tony frowned. Only ten months? The kid had already been in his custody for more like sixteen months. That meant the Bench’s had waited half a year before saying anything about their daughter being missing. “Officer, I’m aware that you’re just trying to do your job, but there is nothing wrong here. If anything else comes up, I’m sure you know where to find me.”

He turned back to Ava. “And you’re sure that there is nothing wrong as well?”

Ava nodded. “Yes, sir.” He motioned for his men to lower their guns.

The rest of the officers left, but the leader stayed behind for a moment. He crouched down so he could look Ava in the eyes. He handed her the card with his number on it. “If anything comes up, and I mean anything, feel free to call me night or day.” Ava took the card, and watched as he left with the rest of his men.

Once they were all gone, Ava looked up at Tony. “Is it just me, or was that not proper police procedure?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s just get home.”

Ava’s eyes widened a little. She hadn’t yet begun to think of the tower as home. But compared to this abandoned place, it was the best that she was going to get.


	28. Chapter 28

Tony didn’t breath properly until they were back at the tower, but that relief was short lived. Jarvis spoke almost as soon as they stepped inside. “Sir, the Avengers are here, and Director Fury is with them.”

Tony groaned and rolled his eyes. “What did I ever do to deserve this? Ugh… Where are they?”

“They are currently waiting in the living room on the first floor. I did not feel comfortable letting them have more access without your direct permission.”

Tony sighed, and rubbed his palms across his eyes. “Thank you, Jarvis.”

He turned to Ava, to tell her to go wait in her room, but he was cut off by the sound of footsteps, and he spun around to see the captain walking out into the hallway. He gave Ava a strange look, then moved his gaze to Tony. “Fury wants to see you. Both of you.” He turned and headed back to the living room.

The billionaire frowned. Was it really necessary to involve Ava in anything? She would have no clue what was going on, and he didn’t want to upset her when she was just barely starting to feel comfortable around him. She had accepted all of the Avengers pretty easily the first time, but this was different. And if Fury thought that he would be able to send Ava out into the field again, then he would be sorry.

Tony glanced at Ava helplessly. “Sorry, I know that they can be kind of intimidating, and crazed, and the director is a complete asshole, but if you would just come with me…”

Ava nodded slowly. She didn’t really want to go, but what choice did she have? She gulped. “Can you go in first? I just need a minute, to collect myself.”

Tony nodded, and hurried to the living room to see what doom was awaiting him. Ava glanced around, weighing her options. She didn’t want anyone to see the notebook, not when she hadn’t even finished reading it yet. But just the first page had something so incriminating on it, and it would be very bad if anyone got a hold of it, because then Tony would end up reading it too at some point.

She looked around, not saying anything, just studying the area. She didn’t know it very well, but she recognized a good hiding spot when she saw one. There, the small table by the elevator. She ran over as quietly as possible, and crouched down. She slid the book underneath the the wooden panel at the bottom, and pushed it in until it was completely hidden.

Then Ava turned and went to the living room. She gasped, and her eyes widened. She had already seen Bruce before, and he was pretty safe, but there were so many more now. Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, and a tall bald man with an eyepatch. They all turned to stare at her as soon as she stepped inside the room.

Tony was still standing, so Ava rushed over and stood behind him. She wasn’t hiding, she just liked that spot the best. No, who was she kidding? She was hiding from them, because they made an impressive picture, and impressive and very scary picture. She hoped that they wouldn’t want to keep her in there for too long. As soon as she was free, she would run to the elevator, grab her newly obtained treasure, and go back to her room on the third floor.

Tony glanced at Ava as she ran to stand behind him, then looked back at Fury. The man looked pissed. “Why was I not informed of her recovery which was already several days ago?”

Tony shrugged. “She needs time to recuperate, she’s not some super soldier who can just get up after every bashing and shake it off like it was nothing.”

Fury’s frown deepened. He had only met the girl once, but she had not been shy in any way at the time. So why was she suddenly hiding behind Tony’s legs like it was the only safe place in the room? “Stark, I know you’re hiding something. What’s going on?”

Tony’s eyes flicked over to Bruce, and the scientist gave an almost undetectable nod. He was the only other person in the room aware of Ava’s current predicament, but he wasn’t going to say anything.

The genius raised one eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Like I said, she woke up, and it was immediately apparent that she needed some more rest.”

Fury shook his head. “What, is three months of rest not enough for her?”

Tony sighed. “You do realize that a being in a coma is not the same thing as getting rest, right? That was all time spent by her body trying to heal itself, it has nothing to do with tiredness or sleep or anything else like that.”

Fury narrowed his eye. “Did you kidnap that child?”

Everyone looked surprised at that question. The Avengers had seen how devastated Tony had been when Obadiah took her away, and they had seen Tony visit the hospital everyday for three months while the girl was in her coma. And the resemblance, in looks and personality, was uncanny. Tony shook his head adamantly. “No, why would you think that?”

Fury pulled out a tablet, and when he turned it on, there was the missing persons report that had been filed for Ava ten months ago. He held it out, but Tony could see exactly what it was. “Maybe because she’s been missing for almost a year, and you just happen to have found a kid with the same name, and the same face, a little over a year ago. I want you to start talking, or you’re going to-”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “What? There’s literally nothing you can do to me.”

Fury practically growled. “You listen to me, Stark. You’re playing on thin ice, and when it cracks, it won’t just be you who falls through.” He looked at Ava. “You can speak for yourself. How are you and Stark connected?”

Ava looked up at Tony, who turned to give her a reassuring smile. She spoke into Tony’s back, and everyone else had to be perfectly silent to hear her at all. It was hard enough without obstructions, but she had a person in front of her, an effective muffle for her voice.

“We’re… he’s… my friend. I chose to stay here… nothing illegal… or against my will… I promise.”

Tony felt a little surprised that hearing Ava call him her friend gave him mixed emotions. On one hand, he was pretty sure she was only saying that to appease Fury, and on the other hand, he didn’t want to be her friend. He didn’t mean that in a mean way, it was just… he wanted to be her family, not just her friend.

Fury was still frowning, but Tony was having a tough time remembering a moment when Fury wasn’t frowning, so that didn’t necessarily mean anything bad. “Well, regardless of whatever drama you’ve got going on, the world keeps moving. And that means that the bad guys aren’t going to stop terrorizing everyone just because you’re having family issues. I want all of you to go out-”

Tony interrupted Fury. Normally, even Tony knew where to draw the line, once Fury got into his super serious mode to explain their next mission. But this was different. “No. We’re not all going. I’ll go, fine, I’ve been going in all the time that Ava’s been in a coma, even if I still think you’re an asshole for not mentioning the second robot. But Ava’s staying. That’s non-negotiable.”

Fury seemed to recognize that there was nothing that he could do to sway Tony in this situation. But it was really Ava’s choice whether or not she wanted to go. He looked at teen. “It’s your choice whether or not you want to go.”

Ava shook her head. “Why would I? I’m just a…. normal person.”

Fury furrowed his eyebrows, and looked at Tony. “We have a lot to talk about when you get back from this mission.”

Tony gulped. “Yeah, I bet.”


	29. Chapter 29

Teamwork wasn’t a concept that came very easily to Tony. Even when he was just a kid, he had always resisted the idea of working with others, in school, or anywhere. And as he grew older and took charge of his father’s company, a lot of the responsibility and talking had been left to Pepper, so he’d been able to avoid having to play nice with others.

But once he had been brought in on the Avengers initiative, all that had changed. He had been thrown into a new world, full of things he never expected to see before. And if he didn’t learn how to work with his team almost immediately, then he would have been booted. And he didn’t want to be kicked off of the team of superheros. He liked knowing that he had saved the world yet again, and that there were people who were relying on him.

But someone forgot to mention that when one doesn’t share everything with his team, and they start to feel like he’s hiding something, they will lose trust in him, and his teamwork skills will get rusty. It had very difficult to get back with his team three months ago, after an entire year of having no communication with them. They had all gotten knocked around and beaten pretty badly. They probably would have all been killed if it hadn’t been for Ava.

It was easier after that, once they all got used to dancing around each other again, and for those three long months that Ava had spent in her coma, he had been out fighting crime with his team. If he was being honest, it was mostly because he wanted to be there when they caught the guy who had created those giant robots in the first place, and not because he actually felt any burning desire to do good.

But suddenly, everything seemed to sloppy, his teammates uncommunicative and unwilling to coordinate with him. None of them wanted to work with him. They obviously felt like they couldn’t trust him, which was strange, because Tony couldn’t recall keeping any particularly bad secrets recently that would make them all so mad.

He flew over the beast, it looked sort of like the Hulk, but more feral, more out of control, more willing to cause mass destruction and death, without a single care. It’s gaze turned up at him, and before Tony could even think about it, the monster crouched down, and leaped up into the air, high enough to snatch the flying Iron Man and drag him back down to earth.

Tony spoke into his helmet, hoping that the others wouldn’t go so far as to ignore him when he was clearly in trouble. “Guys, a little help here.”

There was a chuckle, and Black Widow spoke. “You probably can’t see it from where you are, but this is such an adorable sight.”

Tony frowned. He looked around, but he could only see the green muscles bunching up under the monster’s skin, and nothing else. He growled. “What the hell is going on? Somebody tell me right now.” From the way they stopped moving, he could at least be relieved that there was no more danger.

Hawkeye joined in the amused laughter. “Well, believe it or not, I think the big guy’s decided that you’re his new favorite toy. He’s cuddling you, like the way a little kid cuddles their teddy bear. It’s very funny, actually. I’m sure that you’ll be able to find the humor in this once you cool down a little bit.”

The Hulk’s voice joined in the conversation, though he sounded distinctly disappointed. “No more smash?”

Tony could imagine Thor patting the Hulk’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “There, there, friend. I’m sure that you’ll find plenty of opportunities to smash in the future. Do not despair.”

Captain America spoke, and even over the speaker, he could practically hear the frown in his voice. “Before you keep taking pictures, Natasha, I would remind you that your first priority here is to capture the beast, not photograph it will it has one of our teammates in it’s custody.”

Hawkeye chuckled. “I can’t wait to see what everyone will think when we blow this up and show it on the Time’s Square. Every television out there, plastered with our adorable and cuddly Iron Man. I can actually see a lot of appeal in that.”

Tony coughed loudly. “Excuse me, but as much as this pains me to say it right now, I do agree with the capsicle. Find a way to free me, preferably without me getting crushed to death by a giant Hulk imitation.”

Over his headset, Tony could hear the typical grunts and shouts that indicated fighting. He saw the green swirling all around, and it was beginning to make him feel a little nauseous. Was all that dizzying spinning really necessary? The noises were cut off by Jarvis. “Sir, there is a call for you coming from Ms Potts. Shall I connect you?”

Tony rolled his eyes, but there was really nothing he could do to assist his team in the situation, and besides, Pepper wouldn’t call in the middle of a mission unless she had a really good reason. He hoped that there wasn’t some kind of emergency. “Very well, connect the call.” There was a click that Tony recognized, and he spoke right away. “Pepper, what’s going on? Why did you call?”

The voice that answered wasn’t Pepper’s. It was the sound of a very annoyed man, who Tony didn’t know. “Is this Anthony Stark?”

Tony shuddered at the use of his full name. He hated that, it reminded him too much of when he was a kid. Not fun times. “Yes. Who is this, and why do you have Ms Pott’s phone?”

The man sighed. “It really would behoove you to just stop talking, Mr Stark. My identity is unimportant. All you need to know is that I have Ms Potts in my custody, and if you wish to see her alive, then you’ll need to transfer 8.27 million dollars into this bank account by the end of the day. You’ve got until midnight.” The next part was added almost as an afterthought. “And don’t even bother alerting the police or anyone in SHIELD if you want to find her in one piece.” The man read off the list of numbers that sounded like a bank in a place that couldn’t be located in the US.

There was a click as the man ended the call, and Tony sighed. “I do not need this right now. Jarvis, call the tower. Maybe Fury will still be there.”

There was a ringing sound that stretched out too long, and Tony gave up. He instructed Jarvis to try calling Ava’s cell. He heard Ava’s soft voice, and realized that she must have been debating herself on whether or not she would even pick up the phone. “Hello?”

Tony smiled a little. He was proud of her for picking up the phone. “Ava, it’s me, Tony. I need to know something, and it’s very important. When’s the last time you saw Pep-... Virginia?”

There was a small pause, and then Ava spoke. “Some guy stopped by the tower, saying that he’s a friend of yours. He said that Virginia is in danger. She recognized him, and went with him. What’s going on?”

Tony sighed. “I need you to stay in the tower. Grab your cell phone in case the power is somehow cut, and don’t open the door for anyone. I want you to repeat these instructions to Jarvis, so that he can lock the place down.”

There was a soft gulp. “Um… when you say stay in the tower… how important is that part, exactly?”

Tony gulped, feeling like something bad was about to happen. “Very important.”

Ava breathed out. “Oh, then you’re not going to like this. I… may or may not have decided to follow Virginia.”

Tony’s eyes widened, but before he could say anything, the call disconnected. Tony was sent flying, and when he sat up, he raised his helmet. The Hulk had tackled the monster to the ground, and managed to knock the thing unconscious. Tony stood up, his whole body feeling a little sore. This wasn’t how he was hoping the day would go. Things just kept getting better and better, he thought bitterly.


	30. Chapter 30

Ava pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call. Even for someone in her condition, it was difficult to keep up with the moving vehicle. Her saving grace was probably the fact that there was so much traffic, forcing the car to slow down, and even stop at certain points. But it was hard to tell each car apart, since they all looked the same.

But she knew that something wrong was happening, and it involved Pepper for sure, and probably Tony in some way or another. Ava like Pepper, the woman had been nothing but kind and understanding even though it must frustrate her as much as it does Tony that Ava can’t remember anything about her.

Ava whipped around the corner, and her lungs were screaming, and her legs felt like they were on fire. She just needed a small breather, that was all. Just a moment to get some air in her, and then she’d be able to keep going like before. She wasn’t giving up. And if it turned out that she was just being paranoid and Pepper was safe, that was fine. But Ava had a sinking feeling that that wasn’t the case.

She looked around, and realized that she had lost sight of the car containing Pepper and the stranger. Ava frowned. Even with the traffic at a dead stop like this, there were far too many yellow taxis for Ava to find the one that she was actually looking for. There was nothing left to do but go home.

She turned to head back the way she had come, but her eyes widened as she realized that none of it looked familiar. She hadn’t exactly been studying the scenery as she ran, and she wasn’t familiar with this part of the city at all. Ava went to pull out her phone with some resign. She would just have to call Tony and have him come pick her up, though she was pretty sure he would chew her out for all of this.

Ava reached into her pocket, and it was empty. She checked the other one, same result. “Looking for this?”

Ava spun around at the sound of an oily voice, and there was a tall man, on the older side, completely bald. Her eyes widened. Bald men were always the bad guys in the books. She tentatively reached out, hoping he would just hand over the phone and let her be on her way. The man yanked the phone away just as Ava was about to grab it, and he laughed. “Honestly, I was a little disappointed when I realized that I can’t reactivate you remotely. Luckily for me, though, your other functions still work just fine, so once you stopped moving, it was easy to see where you were, and track you down.”

Ava gulped. “Please, just give it back.”

The man raised one eyebrow, and held up the device. “What this? You can have this back.” He dropped it, and Ava lunged forward, but she was too slow, and it crashed into the ground. The screen cracked, but it still seemed to be on. Ava bent down to grab it, and there was a loud noise, it sounded worse than any thunder storm she’d ever heard before, and left her ears ringing. The phone flew away, a smoking hole now in the center of it.

Ava looked up, and watched as the bald man tucked the gun back to where he had been hiding it on the inside of his coat. Without the phone’s GPS, Tony wouldn’t be able to find Ava. Now was the time to book it. She jumped up and made to bolt away, but two men in dark suits and sunglasses were standing right behind her. They casually brushed aside their jackets so she could see their weapons.

The bald man laughed again, and Ava turned around. She wondered how nobody in any of those cars had heard the loud gunfire. Her adversary spoke like he somehow knew what she was thinking. “It’s New York City, this is nothing new. People don’t care when they hear a gun, as long as it’s not pointed at themselves. People are disgusting, never caring about anyone but themselves.”

Ava clenched her hands into fists. She wasn’t sure that she would be able to take even one of the three men in a fight, but she certainly wasn’t going to go down without even trying. “You’re wrong. There are people who care.” She wasn’t sure where this sudden strength was coming from, but she wasn’t going to argue with it.

The bald man sneered. “Who? You? The Avengers?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Even they have a hidden agenda that doesn’t involve saving people. That’s just a happy side effect.”

The man reached forward, and Ava’s leg shot up to kick him. One of the men behind her grabbed her arms, pinned them behind her back, and lifted her so her feet weren’t even touching the ground. It was a very painful position, and she felt like her arms were just going to fall right off of her body.

The bald man nodded, and her captor carried her like that around the corner, into an alley. Ava was struggling, and she was kicking at the man, but the angle was all wrong, and she couldn’t even give him a tiny bruise. There was a shiny black car, with tinted windows, waiting for them, and Ava tried to shout, but a hand covered her mouth. She was shoved into the backseat, and the man stood right next to the closed door so she couldn’t escape.

The bald man slid in the other side, and he raised one eyebrow. “Now, are you going to be difficult about this?”

Ava spat in his face. “Go to hell.”

He chuckled. “It’s funny, but you remind me a lot of the self you don’t even remember. I’m only trying to help remedy that. It’s in my best interests for you to remember.” He pulled out a bag that looked like one of those old doctor’s bags out from underneath the front seat. He snapped it open, and Ava couldn’t help feeling curious. She peered inside, and saw tools much like the ones that filled Tony’s workshop. 

Ava gulped. “What are you doing?”

The bald man sighed. “I’m giving you back the memories you’ve lost. Geez, no need to thank me or anything. I’m actually doing you a big favor, when you think about it.”

Ava shook her head. “Have you… have you ever done something like this before? And how is it even possible to restore memories with those… things? I’m not some computer…”

The man shrugged. “Have I ever needed to restore the memories of a girl who is half machinery? No, unfortunately opportunities like that don’t arise nearly as often as you would expect. And admittedly, I’m not trying to give you back everything. Just a partial memory, to make you understand everything better.”

Ava pressed back against the car door, but it was the farthest away she could get. She gulped. “No thanks, I’d rather remember on my own.”

The man’s arm shot forward, and before Ava could even blink, he was pressing a needle into her neck. She gasped as something foreign was jammed into her bloodstream. It made all of her limbs feel like they weren’t even connected to her brain, and she had no control over them. It felt like when something is in a funny position, and loses all circulation for a while. 

She was still awake, but she couldn’t summon up the energy to be afraid, even as the bald one pulled things out that looked like they should be found in a torture chamber. He was holding tiny wires, and a mini screwdriver. He gave Ava an apologetic look. “I can’t have you unconscious during this, because there’s a very large chance that you would never wake up again. Also, it will be very handy to have some idea of your brain activity as I work.” He inched a little closer. “This isn’t as easy as it would be in the wide open space of my labs, but obviously that isn’t a possibility right now. Tony will track your phone to the last known location, and if he’s smart, he’ll search around the area before broadening his range.” He grimaced. “I apologize in advance. This may hurt. A lot.”


	31. Chapter 31

Tony rushed home before Fury could even officially declare the mission to be over. He had tried calling Ava back several times already, but he kept getting the message that her number was currently unavailable. And no one answered when he tried calling Pepper’s cell, or the tower.

He ran inside, and only had to be there for a few seconds to know that there was no one else around. “Jarvis, activate the GPS for both Pepper and Ava’s cell phones.”

Jarvis sounded a little moody. “Of course, Sir. But you do seem awfully good at losing people, Sir.”

There was a pause, and when Tony looked down at his phone, it showed two locations. He knew that the most likely scenario for Pepper at least, was that her kidnapper had thrown away her phone somewhere. He turned to leave, when the big TV turned on. Tony rolled his eyes. “Jarvis, I’m not sticking around to watch TV…”

A familiar voice spoke. “Not even for an old friend, Tony?” The genius spun around, and there was Obadiah on the screen. He had a triumphant look in his eyes, and that gave Tony a sick feeling in his stomach. “Don’t bother trying to trace this call, I’ve got an expert making sure that you can’t. And as sad as it must make you, there are some people who are better than you when it comes to technology. I’m actually here to help you, believe it or not. I’ve always been fond of your assistant, and her impressive Tony-wrangling skills. I can tell you where to find her.”

Tony frowned suspiciously. “And why would you want to help me with anything? You’ve already tried to kill me more times than I can keep track of.”

Obadiah shrugged. “Let’s just say, I’ve already gotten what I want. I no longer have any need of antagonizing you.”

Tony’s frown only deepened at that. “What did you get?”

The older man laughed. “Tony, it would ruin the surprise if I told you that right now! I can’t believe you want to be such a party pooper. I always thought you were cooler than that. You can find Pepper in apartment 5b of this building.” A picture of a run down crummy apartment building popped up onto the screen. “Even if you hand over the money, they’ll still kill her, so you might as well go and rescue her right now.”

Then the screen turned off in a blink, and Tony found himself staring at his reflection in the black surface. He looked as tired as he felt, and he wondered if everyone else could see that, too. Tony quickly ran to his computer, and began searching for the exact location of the building. It took him a few minutes, but as soon as he found it, Tony hurried into his suit, and flew off to his destination as quickly as possible.

***

Ava looked up at Obadiah with a frown. “Why are you helping him? You said-”

Obadiah rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure how Tony had managed to put up with having a full time teenager around his home for so long. It had only been a few hours, and Obadiah was already starting to wonder if he wouldn’t have been better off just leaving things as they were. No, this was definitely better. By doing this, he got the better end of every deal. “Don’t worry, I know what I said. Tony is a very naive person, he’s going to go to the location I gave him, find his girlfriend, and get her home. Then the rest of the plan can happen.”

Ava pouted, and Obadiah just shook his head slightly. He could see the difference in her eyes compared to before. When she had been forced under his control, her eyes had been a dull, boring green, but now they were sharp and bright. The teen sighed dramatically. “I’m still not sure…”

Obadiah spoke in a gentle voice, which was rather unusual for him. But as much as Ava was getting on his nerves, there was also something about having her around that made him feel comforted. “Did you notice the way he didn’t bother to ask for you at all?”

Ava nodded miserably. She replayed the memories that had been returned to her over and over in her head, and there was no way to argue with all of the evidence piling up against the billionaire. He was a rotten person, even if Ava’s instincts were begging her not to believe that. She had seen it for herself. As soon as she woke up from the coma, and Tony had sent her away. And even though she had called his name, just the once, it had been a plea to not put her back with her parents. Tony had just ignored her.

The girl almost wished that she had more memories to go by, but only her post-coma memories had been restored. She wasn’t sure why, but Obadiah said something about all the rest being inaccessible. There were even some blank patches then, but she was able to put together a conclusion based on what she could remember. Like Tony, wearing his Iron Man suit, kicking her in the chest, and breaking her hand, and shooting her with his repulsors. That wasn’t exactly indication of a healthy relationship. She couldn’t remember how she had gotten into that situation, but Tony’s helmet had been up, so there was no arguing that it had been him.

Ava glanced up at Obadiah. He was tapping away at the keyboard on his computer, probably about nothing that would interest her. Obadiah was nice. Mostly. He was a good guy. He had taken her away from her parents, saved her, she knew that much. And he had also gone through the effort of restoring her memories, even though he had had no obligation to do so. He never hit her or hurt her in any way, and he seemed to value her intelligence.

She didn’t want to disturb him in the middle of his important work, so she went back to the guest room that he had declared hers. It was all white, blank walls, and plain bed sheets and pillows. Nothing to indicate that anyone else had ever used this room. Ava was planning on decorating it more later, when she could figure out what she actually wanted her room to be decorated with.

Ava knew that it had to be different. Her room at home, and her room at the tower were both very similar, and Ava didn’t want to be that person anymore. That weak girl who couldn’t choose to leave her abusive parents sooner, and then went off and sidled herself with another abusive parent. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with her…

Ava crawled under the large bed, which was an easy fit for a girl of her size, and picked up the one thing in the room that actually belonged to her. It was the journal that her mother had left behind for her. After Obadiah had explained to Ava why he needed to take her out of the unsafe environment, he had driven her back to the tower to pick up anything she needed. 

She had grabbed the notebook from where she had left it, and that was it. She could always get new clothes and shoes and books and other things. And she only had a limited amount of time before Tony was supposed to return. She turned to the second page, and kept reading where she had left off.

If Ava didn’t know that this was an actual diary slash notebook thing, she would have thought that it was a fictional novel in progress or something. Ava read the pages slowly, savoring every word that her mother had left behind just for her. She was immersed in the story that was being told over the course of seventeen years, and it was a riveting tale.

When she put down the book a few hours later, she had to take a few deep breaths to compose herself. It was like finishing any other good book, she needed a moment of just sitting and thinking once it was over.

Everything, or at least a great deal more than before, made sense now. She wasn’t sure if it was possible, some of the things in that book, but from what Obadiah had said earlier, this stuff was true. The book was like one long lab report of observations, and now Ava knew where she came from. Margie and Stan Bench weren’t her parents. She had been born in a laboratory in Stark Industries, which had been run by Tony even back then. 

Obadiah knocked on the door to her room, then opened it. He peered in and saw Ava curled up on the bed, silent tears running down her face. There were no new developments in his plan, so he really had no need for her currently. He was about to close the door and pretend he had never seen anything, but something in him decided not to do that. “I ordered some food, if you’re hungry.”

Ava looked up, and rubbed her face to get rid of those tears. She jumped off of her new bed and followed him to the kitchen of his moderate sized home. He gave her an encouraging smile, and Ava couldn’t help but think that he was some kind of hero.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of update last week. There was a bad nor'easter in my area, and we had no power Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Tony paced back and forth across their bedroom, Pepper watching from the bed with concern. Obadiah’s information had been accurate, and he had found Pepper at that old apartment building. He had taken out his anger on her kidnapper, and when he was done, dropped the man off in police custody, and brought Pepper home.

But when he returned, there was still no Ava. He had tried calling her again, but her number was still disconnected. He had gone to the location where her phone GPS was last recorded, and he couldn’t find her anywhere in that area. He had then returned to the tower, took the time to upgrade security, and then began pacing.

Pepper was sitting on the bed, staring at Tony as he went back and forth. She couldn’t think of anything to say to the man, but she felt horrible. Ava was just as much her responsibility as Tony’s. When that man had shown up with a gun, and told her that he knew Tony, he had put the gun until it was touching her head. He told her to accompany him because she was in danger, and Pepper had spotted watchful green eyes peering around the corner.

She just hadn’t expected the teenager to follow her, in a strange rescue attempt. Pepper sighed. “Tony… maybe you should just sit down, have a drink. I’m sure that Ava will be fine-”

Tony growled. “She obviously will not be fine! She’s like a danger magnet! I don’t even know how she always manages to find herself in trouble!”

Pepper frowned. Most people would back off when Tony was this livid, but Pepper hadn’t been able to grow so close to Tony by being most people. She stood up and went over to him. “Tony Stark, now you listen to me. Ava is a resourceful, intelligent girl, and no matter what happened, she will figure out a way to get out of it, or contact us, or do something.”

Tony ran his hands through his hair, then sort of collapsed onto the bed. He pulled Pepper down with him, and they just stayed there like that for a while, hugging and taking comfort from each other.

***

Ava peered over into the next room, which had its door open. She was sitting on the couch, watching some program that had been on television. It was supposed to be funny, but Ava wasn’t even really paying enough attention to be amused. Obadiah was in the next room, sitting at his desk, tapping away at his computer while filling out what looked like boring paperwork.

He seemed preoccupied, though, and Ava wondered what was wrong. She glanced back at the tv screen, and saw that there was someone hugging what looked like either their clone or their twin. Ava hadn’t been watching enough to even know that much. She wondered when the last time she had watched tv, just for fun, was. 

She had never really done it back home, because that would involve spending time in the house, but out of her room, and that was too risky. And to get a tv installed in her room, she would have had to go through all the trouble of getting someone who understood all that stuff to do it, and then she would have to pay them, and in the end her parents were bound to notice something.

And in the past few days that she had spent at Stark Tower, she had mostly kept to her room. And even though there was a TV in there, she had been too busy trying to figure out what her life had been like to actually sit down and watch something. 

Ava sighed, and decided that the reason she hadn’t ever watched much tv was that it was so boring. It involved just staying still and focusing on fictional lives created by bad writing and poor plot. She began to fidget almost immediately. It didn’t help that she had the weight of her new knowledge on her shoulders, either, all of the stuff she had learned from her mother’s observations book. 

The teen turned up the volume to the tv, and she glanced over at Obadiah’s office. She felt bad. He looked like a nice, normal, businessman, and he was going through all the trouble of getting revenge on Tony Stark on her behalf. It was wrong of her to sully such a good person because of her own selfish and childish desires to see the genius billionaire suffer.

Ava turned up the volume a little bit more, then quietly walked over to the window. The door was right across from Obadiah’s study, and she didn’t want him to see her leave, because he might think that she was ungrateful for all of his help. She peered out, and saw that her earlier assessment was correct: there was a large pool down in the backyard, and if she managed to jump out far enough, she would land there, and not get hurt too badly.

She slid the window up, and an alarm went off instantly, the very loud and annoying kind. She started to slip out the window, but a strong arm grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back inside. She flailed around a bit, and managed to see that it was Obadiah who was holding her. One of the bald man’s goons rushed in, and slammed the window shut. He reset the code too quickly for Ava to see what it was, then scurried off back the way he had come.

Ava struggled fruitlessly in Obadiah’s strong grasp. He had been polite before, he had tried to make his house hospitable towards the teen, and he had even done his best to comfort her when she was crying for reasons he still wasn’t even aware of. But this was too much. If she thought that she had the liberty to just leave, then she was very wrong.

Ava made an undignified squawking noise, that would have caused fits of laughter in any other situation. “What are you doing? Let go of me right now!”

Obadiah sighed. “You’re really trying my patience. I don’t need some brat running around outside getting herself killed. You’re here for your own safety.” 

Ava punched at the older man in protest. “I’m not some brat! And if you’re really trying to help me, then you won’t try and keep me here like some kind of prisoner! I don’t understand what you want!”

Obadiah shrugged. “That’s not my problem. I’ve made myself very clear, and you chose to ignore those niceties, so now you’ll get the treatment that you deserve. I’m not the bad guy, Ava, believe me, but I’m certainly not the good guy either.”

He dragged her towards her room, which was still plain, and contained only the bare amount of things. There was no personality to the room, or anything else that she could use to distinguish it as her own. 

Ava wished that she had studied the door closer earlier, so that she could have seen that the lock was on the outside. She heard it click, and immediately began pounding on the door. “HEY! Let me out! You can’t keep me in here!” She kept going until her voice was hoarse, then she sank to the floor, leaning back against the door.

After a while she felt tired, so she crawled under the bed, where her mom’s book was waiting. She would just read that until she fell asleep, and she felt very glad that Obadiah seemed to assume that she hadn’t taken anything from the tower. Now she had no one to trust. Her memories clearly showed Tony being a bad person, but this incident clearly showed Obadiah being a bad person.

Ava wasn’t sure what to do, so she read the long story again, falling asleep before she could reach the end this time. She had so many questions for her parents, but she wasn’t sure that they would ever be answered. The biggest one being where were they and why had they left without her, but there were many others as well.

She used one of her arms as sort of a pillow, not caring that she couldn’t even feel her arm anymore after just a few minutes. She started to think, ‘When this is all over...’ but then she realized that it all went on for so long, and extended so far back into her life, she had no idea what she wanted to be over, or if it ever would be.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I can hardly believe that I used to write chapters that were so damn short. It seems so unthinkable to me nowadays haha

Ava woke up, feeling uncomfortable. She could feel that her back was sore, and her legs were stiff, probably sleeping with them curled up. She sat up, and banged her head against the underside of the bed. She immediately remembered where she was, and scrambled out of her hiding place, hoping that it had all just been some bad dream.  
But she was met with the sight of white walls, and plain, white everything, showing that she was indeed still in Obadiah’s house. She went over to the door and tried it in vain, but Obadiah wasn’t stupid enough to randomly unlock her door in the middle of the night or something.  
Ava heard a growling from her stomach, and she gulped, hoping that Obadiah wasn’t planning on starving her to death. It wasn’t too bad when she had been growing up, but after being fed regularly for so long, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle not getting any food.  
Either way, though, Ava was angry, mostly at herself. She shouldn’t have trusted Obadiah so automatically. A normal person would have asked for her to hand over her phone or something, they wouldn’t have shot it, with the gun right next to her head. Ava was unsure of what to do. If she did somehow manage to escape, where would she go?  
Her parents were long gone, and they had left behind nothing but a journal that held answers to questions Ava had never even considered asking before. But there was no forwarding address or any other way to track the couple down. And from what Ava could remember, Tony was an abusive jerk, so she didn’t want to run back to him.  
Most likely, her best course of action would be to call Mirand and hope that the woman remembered her old neighbor, and beg to be able to stay with her, just for a while. There was a polite knock at the door, and one of Obadiah’s goons spoke. “I’m going to open the door to bring you some food. Try anything funny and you’ll be strapped down to a table and fed through a tube. Do you understand?”  
Ava nodded, and turned around to face the wall. She sat down, crossing her legs, and just stared at the wall opposite the door, not wanting to give her captors the satisfaction of seeing her so distressed. She heard the door open, and there was a soft clink of plastic on wood, and then the door closed and locked again.  
Ava got up and went over to the dresser, where a plastic plate had been set down. Apparently she was no longer trusted with the good china. There was no reason for Obadiah, or any of his people, to poison her, so Ava greedily ate the food. It was good enough, though she ate too quickly to pay attention to what exactly she was consuming.  
Afterwards, Ava crawled back under the bed. It felt like the safest place, even though logically, she knew that Obadiah could easily spot her under there. It was almost as bad as trying to hide in the closet. Though that wouldn’t do much good, because when Ava had checked, the closet had still been empty.  
Ava closed her eyes. Tony and Pepper had been so good to her in the past few days, that she wanted to believe that maybe Obadiah had somehow figured out a way to implant false memories in her mind. She closed her eyes, and tried to study them closer. But like any memory, she wasn’t capable of watching them in high definition television quality.  
She focused on the one where Tony was kicking her ribs, probably hard enough to break a couple. She tried not to pay much attention to the beating itself, but their surroundings. It was hard to tell exactly where they were, and the background kept getting blurred as Ava moved to dodge Tony’s attack.  
There was the sickening crunch of a bone snapping, and Ava was down. Before Tony knelt next to her, obscuring her view, she could see something behind Tony. Like a large container, and Ava’s eyes snapped open.  
Ava had been curious when she first arrived at Obadiah’s house, and he had given her free range, just letting her explore the entire building to her heart’s content. There had been a home gym in the basement, pretty much like a high school gym. In the corner was a large green container, used to store all the weight lifting equipment.

The teen frowned. Why would her and Tony have been fighting in Obadiah’s house, though? That didn’t make any sense. That would mean that Obadiah had seen Tony recently, just a few days ago, when the bald man had told her that he hadn’t seen Tony Stark in years, since the man had betrayed and tried to kill him. 

Ava got up and began to pace the bedroom, which was pretty big for a prison. She had to think. There was an irritating buzz building up in the back of her mind, and she was trying her best to ignore it. The buzz was stopping her from being able to think, and that was a problem, since currently her only weapon was her brain. Not a big weapon, for sure, but useful all the same. Normally, anyways.

Finally, Ava flopped onto the comfy bed, and closed her eyes. When she did, the buzzing feeling got stronger, and it threatened to spread to her entire brain. She shrugged in annoyance. Maybe it was a migraine or something, and it would just be better to let it run it’s course. The buzzing spread immediately, and it gave her a warm relaxed feeling. That’s not how migraines were supposed to be.

Ava almost opened her eyes in surprise when she heard a polite voice in her head, with a slight British accent. “Ava? Can you hear me?”

Ava wasn’t sure if the voice was in her head, or if it was coming from another source in the room, but either way, she had to be going crazy. “Huh. I must be going crazy. I suppose that it was inevitable, but still, I thought I would at least make it through high school.”

The voice sounded like a mix of concerned and bothered. “I am not an auditory hallucination that you are suffering from. This is Jarvis.”

Ava bolted up. There was no way she missed the AI enough to be having weird day dreams about him. The only other possible option was that she was actually hearing him in her head. “How is this even possible?” She whispered.

Jarvis sighed. “I am, for all intents and purposes, a computer with human-like qualities. You, on the other hand, are a human with computer-like qualities. One of those qualities being the computer that is located inside your head. That being the case, we are able to connect like this, though I wouldn’t advise trying to get wi-fi through your head. I can’t imagine that it would turn out well.”

Ava shrugged, even though there was no way for the AI to be able to see the motion. “Listen, I may be mad at Tony, but if he wants to stage a rescue attempt, then I’m game.” Then she paused as Jarvis’s previous words sunk in. “Have you read my mother’s journal? How do you know about all of that stuff?”

Jarvis brushed that topic aside with a simple, “I made a scan, of course.” And moved on to the more important subject. “Tony wishes to speak with you, but as that is simply not possible, we shall work together in assisting you in your escape. All other decisions shall be made once you are free. Is that acceptable?”

Ava nodded. “Yeah, I suppose that’s reasonable. So, what do I do first?”


	34. Chapter 34

Ava nodded. “Yeah, I suppose that’s reasonable. So, what do I do first?”

That comforting voice responded. “Well first, I need you to explain the layout of wherever you are being kept. Any details you can think of would be helpful.”

Ava sighed. “Alright, let me think. I just need to concentrate, I guess. Well, if you can hear me, does that also mean that you can see what I can?”

There was a pause, and then Jarvis responded. “I do not believe so, no. But if you think about it as a clear enough picture, then it might be possible for me to receive it. But I am just as new to all this as you are.” Ava closed her eyes, and tried to imagine her situation in general, so that Jarvis would be able to see what he needed. Jarvis interrupted her thoughts. “You are focusing too much on the situation, and not on your surroundings.”

Ava sighed with frustration. “Well, I’d like to see you try imagining the entire place! It’s impossible. All I know is that I’m in a house belonging to a man that Tony tried to kill a few years ago, his name is Obadiah and he’s bald.”

Ava could hear the implied gasp in the electronic voice. “Obadiah? I must insist that you allow me to postpone this conversation.”

***

Tony was sitting on the couch, watching the news. He couldn’t help it as his eyes kept flicking up to the ceiling, trying to figure out what was going on. He wished that there was some way to talk to Ava himself, but he was just grateful that he had thought of sending Jarvis to keep the girl company. Jarvis’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “Sir? I have been able to make contact with Ava, as you know. From what I could see, she has regained certain memories from your time together, but not any that paint you in a flattering picture. She is in the custody of Obadiah, originally she went willingly, but she is now being held against her will.”

Tony immediately bolted up, forgetting about the glass that had been balanced carefully on his leg. It fell to the carpet with a muffled crash, and Tony frowned at the broken shards of glass. He couldn’t stop the shout from escaping his lips. “What the hell!?” and looked up as Pepper ran into the room.

She looked at Tony first, to make sure that he wasn’t injured in any way, and then her eyes slid down to the broken cup. She sighed. “Tony…” 

He brushed her concern aside. Pepper was in no position to lecture him about anything lately, when he knew that she was just as stressed as him. “It’s nothing. Why don’t you just go back to whatever you were doing before? I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

Pepper narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t stupid, she knew how to recognize Tony’s deflection methods. But she knew that she needed to give him some space right now. Nobody in the tower was feeling particularly settled, especially the two who lived there full time. Pepper lowered her voice so it was gentle. “Tony, you know that I am right here, as soon as you need to talk, just come to me. I don’t even care if I’m in the middle of working.”

Tony scoffed. “I don’t need to talk about anything.”

Pepper hesitated before speaking softly. “Well, maybe I do. I miss her too, you know. Maybe we didn’t get along so well in the beginning, but it wasn’t too long before I realized how much she was a part of this place, and her being gone, it’s as wrong as if I came home one day to find that Jarvis was gone.”

Tony frowned, because he knew exactly what Pepper meant. Ava really had become a part of the tower, in some strange way, and he had grown used to it, until he was taking her presence for granted. “Pepper… We’ll talk later, okay? Right now, I think that I may have a lead on Ava’s whereabouts.”

Pepper nodded, and she turned to leave the room. When she got to the door, she paused to glance back. “Don’t forget to get that mess cleaned up. I hate that you were drinking scotch out of a wineglass, but I’m glad it wasn’t wine. That would be a bitch to get out of the carpet.” Then she left the room, and Tony sighed.

“Jarvis, do you know where Obadiah’s current safehouses are?”

Jarvis made a strange sound, almost like he was clearing his throat, despite his lack of actual body parts. “Sir, have you considered going back to the building that you and the other Avengers infiltrated the first time to find Ava? Obadiah would not expect you to search the same house again, and since you did not actually spot the man while you were there, you assumed that he was not in the area.”

Tony nodded. “Jarvis, get my suit ready. I’ll go check the place out, just to see. Tell Ava that I’m on my way to the place where we think she could be.”

“Of course, Sir. Would you like me to call the other Avengers as back up on your trip? It could be dangerous to go on your own.”

Tony hesitated, then shook his head. “Nah, I’ll just be checking the place out. And the odds of finding her there are very slim, I don’t want to tear the others away from their important saving-the-world work.”

He hurried up to the roof, where he stepped into his waiting suit, then flew off to the coordinates that had been recorded in the computer system during his last trip there, since this time he didn’t have Thor to guide him. 

Tony got there a little while later, and was quickly able to see that the amount of security around the house hadn’t diminished at all. That was a possible sign that Obadiah really was there. Jarvis spoke into Tony’s ear. “Sir, I have just asked Ava to stand by a window and wave. If you fly around the house, and this is where she is being held, you should be able to spot her.”

Tony nodded gratefully, and began to slowly circle the house. He was far enough away that he wouldn’t be spotted by any of the security team making their rounds around the grounds, but close enough that he would be able to see Ava standing in a window, waving at him.

As he was almost finished going around the entire building, Tony couldn’t help that feeling of disappointment in the pit of his stomach. Until he spotted movement coming from one of the second story windows, and he dove down a to get a better look. Ava was standing in front of a small window, a bored look on her face as she moved her hand back and forth.

Tony couldn’t help the noise of excitement that came out of his mouth. “Jarvis, tell Ava that I’m here, and we’ve found her.”

“Of course Sir.” There was a moment of silence as the AI was speaking to Ava. Then Jarvis spoke again. “She said that she can see you, Sir, but wants you to do something to confirm that it is you. Just clap your hands four times.”

Tony was wary of doing something that could potentially alert the sentries to his position, but he wanted Ava to trust him so he could rescue her, take her home, and let everything go back to normal. Tony clapped his hands quietly four times, and suddenly, there was the sound of lots of guns firing at him.

***

Thousands of miles away, Ava stood at the window, waving her hand, but she couldn’t see anybody. Apparently Jarvis had been wrong when he said that Tony was coming to save her. Too bad, she had almost believed it, too.


	35. Chapter 35

Tony dove for cover, heading around the corner of the house, away from the window where he had seen Ava so she wouldn’t accidentally end up getting shot. He heard the metallic clink that accompanied each bullet that met its target: him.

Jarvis spoke without being prompted. “Sir, I believe that you are currently being shot at.”

Tony growled. “Yeah, I think I pretty much figured that one out on my own!” He froze in surprise when he saw that there were what looked like two giant rocket launchers pointing at him from the ground. His suit could take a lot, but he wasn’t really looking forward to the risk of it getting damaged beyond repair, and being unable to protect him.

There was nowhere else for Tony to go; if he went back the way he came, he would be facing the shooters, and if he kept going forward, he would be facing rockets. So he propelled himself up, shooting up faster than the gunmen could keep up with, and as he went, he blasted the rockets with two giant fireballs.

In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the wisest idea, since it lead to a giant explosion that worked to force him up quicker, but he had no way of seeing whether or not the explosion spread far enough to injure Ava.

Tony sighed. “Jarvis, what was the blast radius of that explosion? I want to know that Ava’s alright.”

Jarvis responded hesitantly. “Sir? I have just spoken with Ava, and she says that she never saw you fly by her window, and that there are no shooters or rockets nearby, and certainly no explosion. She would have heard something if there had been so much going on near her, which leads to only one conclusion: She’s not here.”

Tony frowned. “But that’s impossible. I saw her in the window, remember? And she asked me to clap? I mean, that was only five minutes ago, it’s sad that your memory has already gotten so bad. Maybe you have mad cow. It would affect people similarly to alzheimer's.”

There was the sound of a frown in the AI’s voice. “Sir, I am not a human being, I do not have the organ that can be affected by diseases such as mad cow or alzheimer’s: the brain. Or any other organs for that matter.”

Tony scoffed. “I know that, Jarvis, I know. But the point is, I saw her. So if that wasn’t her in the window who was waving, then who was it?”

Jarvis pulled up pictures of the window that the girl had been seen in, and showed them on the display in front of Tony’s face. Jarvis zoomed in on his own, without being asked, and Tony frowned. Now that he could see up close, it was obviously not Ava that he had seen. This woman was slightly older than Ava, and her eyes were brown, and she looked close enough from a distance, but up close it was clear that it was a different person.

Tony groaned. “Great, so I guess we’re back to square one. We still don’t know where to find Ava. Hey, did you try asking her if she happened to see an address on her way to wherever she is right now?”

“No, Sir. I believe that Ava would have the common sense to inform us if she was already aware of her exact location. But if you want, I can specifically ask her.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Remind me to work on your personality when we get home.” He looked around as he slowed the suit to a stop, and realized that he was already much higher up than he had planned on going.

He sighed, and began to descend again, looking down at the thick cloud of gray smoke that was now obscuring the area. It’s not like he needed to see anything around the mansion anyways, now that he knew it had been a dead end.

Tony frowned again. He knew it was a bad habit, and his beautiful face would get permanent wrinkles if he kept it up, but he couldn’t help it. “Jarvis? Why did you suggest coming here? I mean, what exactly prompted that conclusion?”

There was a pause before Jarvis replied. “Ava suggested it. She said that it was as good a place to start searching as any. She also mentioned that before she lost her freedom, she had explored the house she’s being held captive in, and she saw a container in the gym that looked identical to one that she found in the memory of you two fighting in the gym beneath Obadiah’s house. She said that seemed like a dead give away.”

Tony swore under his breath, and began to fly back to the tower. Once they were back, Tony stepped out of his suit, and began to pace back and forth in the master bedroom. This was all so crazy, and part of him was questioning why he was even going so far just to get Ava back in the first place. He had only known her for a little over the year, and she was a pain in the butt most of the time, and she was always intent on jumping out from behind corners and scaring him, and she was too clever for her own good sometimes, and she could actually understand him when he went on and on about his latest projects, and she worked so hard on making that mural for his birthday… Tony cleared his throat. Okay, so he did know why he wanted her back. He just had no idea how to get her.

***

Ava watched as the door to her room opened, and Obadiah’s smug face was staring in at her. “Thank you very much for your help.”

Ava frowned. She hadn’t like the sound of what Jarvis had been saying, about explosions and shooting and stuff. “What are you talking about?”

Obadiah laughed. “Before I sent you back to the tower after your encounter with Tony, I made sure that I wasn’t going in blind. I connected my computers, and did a lot of fancy footwork, so in the end, the point is, I can see anything you see, and I can hear anything you hear. So of course I was able to hear your conversation with that friendly AI that Tony keeps as a slave. And from there, it wasn’t too difficult to have my men waiting at the location that you sent the poor, defenseless Iron Man to.”

Ava didn’t even think about it, some instinct forced her to leap forward, snarling like some kind of wild animal or something. It was strange, but it felt so right to try and attack Obadiah. He just chuckled and shut the door, allowing the teen to slam into the thick wood. She slid to the floor with a grunt of pain.

Ava pounded on the door, even though there was no way that that was going to do anything to help her situation. It felt good to at least try something, rather than curling up in a ball and crying like a baby. 

This wasn’t helping. But that didn’t stop her. Ava swung her arm at the door, and wished she had a good ax or something, to help her smash the thing off its hinges. To her utter surprise, mid-swing she saw that ax that was in her hands. It was see-through, but as it made contact with the door, it sliced right through, forcing splinters on the otherwise plain surface.

Ava let go in shock, and the ax immediately disappeared. Ava looked around, like that would help her locate the missing weapon, but it was definitely gone. Ava frowned, and closed her eyes. She concentrated on how wonderful it would be to have that ax back, and then she felt the gentle weight in her hands.

She swung again, cracking the metal blade against the door, until it was broken enough that she could reach through and grab the doorknob on the other side, and click the lock. She retracted her arm, ignoring that splinters that managed to stab into her, and pushed the newly unlocked door open. She was free, and she had a weapon in case any of those thugs thought that they would be able to get away with trying to stop her from leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost surprising that it took so many years for Ava to discover her powers in the first place, considering the way they just sort of come to her now, even when she has no memory of them lol


	36. Chapter 36

Ava peered around, and didn’t see any of Obadiah’s thugs. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, meaning that there were just none around, or a bad thing, meaning that they were waiting to ambush her somewhere further up.

She wasn’t sure why Obadiah wanted her in the first place, but she could be pretty sure that he wanted her alive, for some reason or another. And that gave her a little more leg space to stretch out in, knowing that he wouldn’t want his men to straight up kill her. Of course, if it came to a fight, the thugs would win, and Ava would most likely end up with the second place prize of being dead.

Ava gripped the ax handle carefully, not wanting it to slid out of her clammy hands, and into her foot or something. Ava began to sneak away from her room, since she knew that standing around waiting for an opportunity would be just asking for trouble. She wanted to do a cool spy roll like in the movies, but she also didn’t want an ax to end up lodged in her stomach, so she decided to wait until later for her spy roll moment.

There were the stairs, and Ava couldn’t help thinking how easy this whole escape plan was. And much more effective than Tony’s plan, which involved her sitting around and waiting like a helpless little kitten. But as she was distracted by her thoughts, she failed to notice the looming menace, until after he swung his gun to smash into her head.

She ducked to the side, but that upset her balance, she stumbled onto the top step, and she was about to take a tumble down the large stairs. That would hurt. The thug snatched her thin wrist, definitely hard enough to leave bruises in the morning, but it was enough to keep her upright, so she didn’t mind so much. 

Ava swung her ax forward, and the man instantly let go of her. Ava jumped back onto the landing, and kicked the man in the back of the knee. He was already off kilter from letting go of her so suddenly, and he fell forward. But the thug seemed to have forgotten about the fact that they were right on top of the stairs, and he toppled forward, dragged down by his own massive weight. 

He rolled down the stairs faster than Ava would have thought possible, and she suddenly realized that it was very possible that the man would die from this fall. That would put his death on Ava’s hands. That would make her a murderer.

Before the teen could even think about it, she was level with the unconscious thug, at least, she thought that he was unconscious, and he landed on a big trampoline, bouncing up a little, then settling down quickly.

His eyes fluttered open, and he was staring at Ava in shock, and she scoffed. “What, you’ve never seen a kid before?”

His voice came out thick and full of awe. “Are you… are you an angel?”

Ava frowned, until she heard the almost imperceptible fluttering behind her. She craned her neck to see what the source of the noise was, and found herself face to face with two gigantic glossy black wings. She glanced down, and saw that she was a few feet above the ground, holding the trampoline.

She let go in surprise, and the trampoline disappeared immediately. The thug rolled onto the next step with a grunt, though he was still less than halfway down the staircase. He reached out, like he was trying to grab Ava, and she didn’t even have to think about it, she just darted back. Her wings were like an extension of her body, no different than an arm or a leg, other than the fact that it gave her the ability to fly.

Ava backed away as the thug continued to stare at her like she was some divine anomaly, and it was freaking her out. Though to be honest, if she saw someone sprout wings and save her life, she would probably react almost the exact same way. She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m an angel. What of it?”

The man frowned a little, but overall, he still looked like he was witnessing a miracle sent by God Himself. He spoke in a whisper, one that Ava had to strain to hear, even though it was still louder than her voice. “I promise to change. I’ll be better, I swear.” He looked uncomfortable. “Well, I won’t swear, that would be unholy. But I won’t hire out myself to greedy bastards like Obadiah Stane. I promise.”

Ava was staring at the guy like he had sprouted a second head. Did he seriously believe that she was an angel? That was equal parts disturbing and awesome, though, so Ava wasn’t going to correct him. Even though he was obviously wrong, because an angel wouldn’t let someone fall down the stairs in the first place. Or carry around an ax. Whether they were able to catch them was a whole other matter.

The girl gave the thug a bizarre look, to let him know that she thought that he was crazy, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about it. Ava flew backwards, and slammed into the wall. She was a little surprised that her wings hadn’t hit the surface first to warn her that she was about to smack into a wall, but she had more important things to worry about than that.

Ava watched as the man fell to his knees, on the step still, and pressed his hands together, while staring up at the ceiling. Ava shrugged. It was long past time for her to take her leave from this den of crazy.

She flew down to the floor, and landed smoothly, with much more graceful movements than she would have thought could come from a first time flyer. Though there was a little voice in the back of her mind whispering at her that she was on the frequent flyers list. She ignored it, though, opting to continue believing that her life with Tony had been complete hell, never having anything good.

Ava pulled the door open, ignoring the blaring alarm that went off immediately. She bent her knees and jumped up, and those smooth wings caught her like nothing she’d ever experienced before.

She flew up as far as she could go, and looked around to see what her options were. Jarvis spoke, interrupting the beautiful view with his plain and boring voice. “Ava, we are formulating a plan to discover your location and rescue you from wherever you are being detained.”

Ava laughed. “Yeah, good luck with that one, buddy. I escaped on my own. It wasn’t that hard, really. I don’t think that they were prepared for me. Hell, even I wasn’t prepared for me.”

Jarvis made a strange noise, then continues speaking. “How long ago did you escape? Were you not planning on contacting me?”

Ava grinned. “It sounds to me like you’re jealous or something. I’m not sure what the word is that I’m thinking of, but I’m sure it describes you. I mean, it’s not like you left me any easy to decipher instruction manual with the step by step on how to contact your friendly neighborhood AI from your own head.” 

Jarvis’s voice held disapproval. “I do not understand why you’re acting so hostile towards me when I am only trying to help you.”

Ava frowned. “Why, though? Why would you want to even bother helping me?”

Jarvis sighed. “Because we’re friends, and that’s what friends do, Ava. They help each other.”

Ava sucked in some air. “I was friends with a machine? That’s so…”

“Lonely? Sad? Pathetic?” Jarvis supplied.

Ava shook her head. “No, I was just going to say, ‘that’s so me’. I have always had a stronger connection to technology than to people, as strange as that sounds.” She took a deep breath as she looked around, but continued to fly. “So, I don’t actually know where I am right now…”

Jarvis sighed. “Well, we’ll figure it out. And then you can come home.”


	37. Chapter 37

Jarvis seemed to be extra frustrated with Tony as they flew around. Ava had immediately flown away from her location, despite that making it harder to find her, but it was understandable considering that fact that she was a sitting duck if she stuck around. And Jarvis wasn’t capable of allowing direct communication between Tony and Ava, so everything they said to each other had to go through him, and both humans had a slight suspicion that there was a lot being lost in translation.

Jarvis sighed. “No, I said that she was at Heldon Industrial Park. I can even play the recording proving that that’s what I said.”

Tony shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. Just be sure to actually enunciate properly next time. You know that you’re the one who’s making this whole process so difficult, don’t you?”

Jarvis ignored Tony and went to Ava. “What section of the park are you located at?”

Ava sighed. “There were some people staring at me, and I thought that they were going to drop those expensive hipster coffees and karate chop me to death or something.”

“That is highly improbable-”

“I know, I know.” Ava snapped at him. “Just tell Tony that I see a city up ahead, and I’m going to go there. I’m tired of flying around and feeling like I’m the only person in the world. It’s rather unnerving.”

Tony looked at the markers on the virtual map in front of him as they suddenly started changing, as Jarvis tried to calculate what city Ava was headed to, keeping in mind her distance from the industrial park and how fast he had seen her fly in the past. “Jarvis, where are we going now?”

The AI responded, almost unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. “Ava has left the park, fearing for her life, and she is now headed to the nearest city to her. I’m trying to figure out what city that might be.”

Tony nodded. “Oh, okay.” He knew that the AI was under some stress right now, because he wanted to find his friend and bring her home, but with the girl flitting around, and having no idea of where she even was, it was a rather difficult task that Tony didn’t envy the robotic voice for having.

Suddenly, there was a flashing red dot on Tony’s map, and before he could question what it was, Jarvis spoke. “That is where you should be able to find Ava. Once you enter the city it should be much easier to pick a spot to meet up. Or perhaps you’ll both see each other as the only two beings so far above the ground.”

Tony chuckled nervously. “Right, that sounds like a plan.” They flew for several hours straight, and finally, arrived at the city. Tony couldn’t help thinking right away that it was a rather poor excuse for a city, since he was used to living in his fancy Manhattan neighborhood. He nodded. “Jarvis, tell Ava to pick a spot, and that’s where we’ll meet. It would be easier for me to go to her, since I’m the one with a map.”

Jarvis spoke to Ava. “What street are you located on right now?”

“Um, West Borough Street.”

“Good, stay there and you should see Tony in a matter of seconds.”

Jarvis repeated the street name to Tony, he found it on his map, and sped there. There was Ava, leaning against a stop sign, her wings nowhere in sight. Not that that really meant anything, since her holograms could come and go whenever she pleased. Tony couldn’t help hoping that if she could use her holograms again, then that meant that her memory had been returned, and she would remember that entire year that somehow slipped her mind.

Ava looked up, one hand raised to shield her eyes from the sun, and Tony landed gently next to her, pleased that she didn’t even flinch. That meant she knew that he would be careful to not injure her when landing. He raised the helmet, and frowned at the tired look on Ava’s face. She cleared her throat. “Hey.”

Tony nodded. “Fancy meeting you here.”

The edges of Ava’s mouth twitched up, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Listen, I know you’re probably going to call me insane or something, but we need to go back to Obadiah’s house.”

Tony laughed. “Wow, good one.” He frowned once he realized that Ava was perfectly serious. “Why? Why would you want to go back there?”

Ava clasped her hands together nervously, and it struck Tony that her voice wasn’t that inaudible whisper. It was closer to the voice that he remembered of hers, strong, but still soft. It was still a little too quiet for his liking, but it was much better than before. “Well, I uh, I left something behind. It’s really rather important.”

She looked up at Tony with those bright green eyes, biting her lip nervously. Her shoulders were tense, like she was already bracing herself for him to say ‘no’. But Tony, as much as he wanted to drag Ava home and keep her there, where she would be safe, knew that she would never accept that. And he also knew that he had a strong urge to punch Obadiah in the face, the opportunity for which would arrive quicker if it was at Obadiah’s house.

He sighed reluctantly. “Alight, fine. We can go back. But you have to promise to listen to me, since I know tactical retrievals better than you do.”

Ava frowned. “But I know the layout of the house better than you do, and you wouldn’t be able to find it if I’m not leading the way. I may have ended up going way out of the way, but I still know the most direct path to getting back there.”

Tony nodded. “I know, I know. Why else would I not be sending you home right now and just going to handle this myself? What exactly is it that you left behind, anyways?”

Ava shrugged. “My mother’s journal. It’s very important to me.”

Tony’s interest was caught, since he wanted to read the journal. He wanted to know why Ava had been so keen to let him go on without ever having read it, and the curiosity about what was in the notebook was very aggravating. “I’ll help you get back your mother’s journal. In exchange, you have to let me read it.” 

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “No way. That’s a deal breaker for sure.”

Tony frowned, then grinned. “Alright. I don’t know if you remember this, but back near the time when we first met, we went on a walk. The stipulation was that you have to answer any one question that I ask, honestly. So, I could always use that question now, and ask something about what exactly it is that you don’t want me to see in that journal.”

Tony held his breath, having no idea whether or not Ava recalled that particular moment, and if she didn’t, whether or not she would believe him that it really had happened. She sighed, and looked down at the ground. “You can save your question. I’ll let you read the journal, and if it doesn’t answer your questions, then I don’t know what will.”

Tony nodded with satisfaction. “Alright, I’m glad that we got that settled. Now why don’t we go and get that journal back so I can have a good time of reading it, okay?”

Ava nodded, and let her wings appear, and she shot up into the sky ahead of Tony. “You coming?”

Tony lowered his helmet and followed her. “Let’s go.”


	38. Chapter 38

Tony kept glancing over at Ava as they flew back to Obadiah’s house. He wouldn’t say that they were flying together, but she was too distracted to bother moving further away. Tony couldn’t wait to find out what was in that journal that was so important it was worth risking their lives for, and that Ava had been so reluctant for him to read in the first place.

Once they could see the house, Tony kept his scanners open, but there were no signs of any guards or security measures of any sort. He sped up to catch up with Ava, who had hurried off ahead of him. “Are you sure this is the right place? I mean, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around here.”

Ava shrugged. “Aside from the times when I don’t, I actually have a pretty good memory. How else would I be able to keep up with you?” She motioned for Tony to be quiet, and she dropped to the roof from higher up than Tony would have liked, though she did her typical spy roll to prevent any breaking bones. It was starting to become like her signature move.

Tony landed gently next to her, and she dashed over to the side of the house, and Tony saw that there was a door on the roof that led back inside. Ava hadn’t seen it during her hurried escape, but this was a good thing. She didn’t want to risk trying to knob if there were some sort of sensors that detect people trying to break in, so she made a holographic skeleton key and inserted into the lock, and with a flick of her wrist, the door swung open.

Tony was impressed, and he followed her as they descended the stairs that were there. Ava looked around, trying to picture what little she knew of the layout of the building. She pointed down to the end of the hallway. “That’s the room where I was being held. The journal should be there.”

Tony surged ahead in the direction that Ava had pointed out, and was soon surrounded by thugs in suits. He grinned at the chance to blow off some steam in a fight. 

Meanwhile, Ava scampered off in the opposite directions, towards the stairs that would bring her down to the second floor. There was still no one around, though she could hear the sounds of a fight happening further back. The teen ignored it, knowing that Tony could hold his own against basic thugs, and even if he couldn’t, that would really solve another of her problems without her even doing anything.

Ava located the room that she had actually been staying in, recognizable by the way the door had been smashed in with one holographic ax. Ava stepped inside, carefully stepping through the broken wood to avoid getting any splinters. She dropped to her knees, and reached under the bed to grab the journal. 

She immediately began going through it, and carefully tore out every page that mentioned anything about Stark Industries, so there was no trace that the pages had ever been there, other than the fact that it made other pages start or end in strange places. She shrugged. If Tony questioned it, she could say that it had been like that when she had found it.

Ava held the notebook tightly as she exited the bare room, and ran back up the stairs. There were several men lying around, groaning and clutching at their various injuries. Ava gingerly maneuvered through them, and if she happened to step on someone’s fingers or toes, she wasn’t going to complain too much.

Ava tucked the notebook inside her shirt, then stepped inside the room she had directed Tony to. He looked at her, his helmet up. “Nice of you to join us.”

Ava shrugged. “I have no skill in fighting, so I would have only gotten in your way, and gotten myself wounded.”

Tony accepted that excuse. “Alright, so where’s this journal?”

Ava dropped to her knees and crawled under the bed until the entire upper half of her body was hidden from view. She pulled the notebook out from where she had hidden it in her shirt, then shimmied back out and stood up.

She handed the journal to Tony, and he could tell that it was the same one they had found back at the Bench’s house. Ava stared up at him warily. “Just to warn you… you may not like what you find.”

Tony laughed. “I think I can handle it.”

Ava nodded. “Alright, if you don’t need anything else, then it’s time for us to leave.”

Tony agreed, and he went over to open the window. He made sure that the book was secure in his grip, and watched as Ava’s wings unfurled, and both of them flew out the window. 

Tony watched Ava studiously as they began the journey back to the tower. It would be a few hours at least, and he was watching for any signs of fatigue, since he still had no idea what the long term effects of her holograms were, or how they even technically worked. 

But she seemed fine, and it didn’t seem like it was taking any of her energy at all to make her wings function properly. Once they finally returned to the tower, they dropped to the roof, and as Tony began to walk inside, he felt Ava staring at him, so he stopped. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to come in?”

She hesitated. The only memories that she had regained from her lost year didn’t exactly make Tony look like one of the good guys. But he had gone awfully far out of his way just to rescue her, and he risked his life to get a dumb journal back at her request. Plus, Obadiah obviously wasn’t one of the good guys either, he had said so himself, so it was possible that he had somehow planted false memories in her head.

Ava nodded. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.” She brushed past Tony, and he heard what she mumbled under her breath as well. “There’s nowhere else for me to go.” He followed her inside, and watched as she hurried away from the top floor where they were. Interesting. She took the elevator back to the third floor, where she knew there was at least one person waiting to welcome her home.

There was a familiar bleating as she looked around the third floor common room, the one that all three smaller apartments on the floor had access to, and a goat trotted over. She crouched down to pet him slowly, and then pulled him into a hug, pressing her face into his soft coat. “Hey, Frederick. You know, you are probably the only person in my life who I will never question the loyalty of. People are so terribly confusing. But you? You’re simple, and I love that about you.”

Tony went to his room, and plopped onto his bed, more mentally exhausted than anything. “Jarvis? You’ll be happy to know that Ava is home, safe and sound.” There was no response, so he assumed that the AI was already talking with the teen. Tony pulled out the notebook with a sigh. “Well, maybe at least now I’ll finally know something. I’m not even sure what I want this book to explain, I just want it to somehow hold the answers for everything, as impossible as that is.”

He opened it, and the first thing he noticed was that it started in the middle of a sentence. When he looked closer, he could just barely see the sliver of paper left behind from a page that was torn out. Tony tossed the book aside out of frustration, and ran his hands through his hair. There were very few people who would have had a chance to tear out the pages in this book, and Tony couldn’t wait to track down the Bench’s and find out what he was missing.

But he could at least try and make sense of the rest for now. He picked it back up and began reading, occasionally finding another spot that was cut off mid-sentence, and then picked up halfway through a different sentence. It certainly made comprehension a little trickier, but Tony read the whole thing through, twice. He wanted to know everything.


	39. Chapter 39

Tony paced back and forth across his bedroom, even though he was really tired, and all he wanted to do was fall back onto his bed and go to sleep. But his mind wasn’t on board with that idea, and was whirring a mile a minute to comprehend everything that he had just read. Unfortunately, for every question of his that was answered, three more were generated.

He was hesitant to go talk to Ava right now, because she had been eyeing the billionaire warily whenever she thought he wasn’t looking during their little mission. But he still needed to return the journal, and he had already made copies of every page, not that he wouldn’t remember it all anyways.

Tony scooped up the notebook, and took the elevator down to the third floor. He knocked on the door to Ava’s room, but there was no response. “Jarvis? Is Ava in her room?”

“No Sir, she is currently located in the kitchen on the first floor.”

Tony nodded. “Thanks.” He took the elevator down the extra two floors, and walked into the kitchen. Ava’s back was to him as she stood in front of the counter, cutting paper thin slices off of a tomato and putting them onto the awaiting sandwich. When she was done, she moved over to the sink to carefully clean off the knife, and then put it away. She wrapped the tomato, put it in a plastic container, and placed it in the fridge. Tony frowned. He couldn’t remember Ava ever cleaning up after herself before.

She turned around, and didn’t even seem surprised to see him standing there, lounging against the door frame. She took a bite of her sandwich, then sat on one of the chairs around the counter. Ava looked at Tony expectantly, waiting for him to say whatever it was that was on his mind. He held up the journal, and studied her reaction. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch, but other than that, she showed complete indifference.

Tony cleared his throat, feeling awkward. “Um, I thought that I’d return this to you. Now that I’m finished reading it.”

Ava raised one eyebrow as her eyes flicked over to the clock on the stove. “I didn’t expect it to take the famous genius six hours to read through such a small book. Well? Did it sate your curiosity?”

Tony tossed the notebook onto the marble counter top, where it landed with a muffled thud. “I still have so many questions…”

Ava shrugged, a small smirk playing across her face before she could contain it. “Well, if I recall, you still have one question. And if you want to take another year to figure out what you want to ask, then that’s fine by me. Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought that someone like you would be able to hold back for so long, and I know for sure that you didn’t just forget about it.”

Tony sighed. “Do you remember that? When we made that silly deal just so you could go to some playground that no one else was at?”

Ava shrugged again. “That depends. Is that your use of the question? Because that sounds personal enough to be the use of your question. You only have one, you wouldn’t want to waste it.”

Tony shook his head. “No, that question is one that I’m saving. Just because I don’t have a million of whatever currency it takes to buy a decent answer from you, doesn’t mean that I’m not going to ask other questions. I’ve probably asked you a million other questions before, but you never pointed out that I only had one left.”

Ava tilted her head until she took that into consideration, until finally, she shook her head. Tony was about to walk away, a disappointed look in his eyes, but Ava spoke before he could leave the room. Her voice was soft, and Tony moved closer to hear her better. “No, I don’t remember that. You’re the one that brought it up, and you even mentioned that it was from all the way back when we first met. The only things that I can remember are things that make you seem rather evil. Honestly, I’m not even sure if they really happened or not. I mean, they are memories, but maybe they’re just memories of a really intense nightmare or something.”

Tony frowned. “What things do you remember?”

Ava sighed, and took another bite of her sandwich before putting it down on the cold countertop. “I remember you saying that I don’t fit in here. I remember you punching me so hard you broke a couple of ribs, and then you broke my hand when I tried to get away. I remember you giving me aw-”

Tony held out his hands. “Enough.” He took a deep breath. “There are so many secrets between us. Even before you were taken, there were plenty of things that you never told me, and that I never told you. But I hate that. So I’m going to be honest. The things you remember aren’t wrong, but they’re taken out of context.” He decided to start with the easiest one to explain. And by that, he meant the only one that had been against his will. “When I hurt you, it was because Obadiah had abducted you, and he did something that was like mind control, though now I realize that it must’ve had to do with the computer in your head. It was a fight to the death, and you weren’t going to stop until one of us was down, so I had to incapacitate you.”

Ava frowned. She looked doubtful, because that just sounded like a crazy story. But Tony sounded so tired, and that wasn’t something that could be faked so well. Tony was tired of having to blame himself for the damage he had caused, and just wanted to get it all off his chest. After what seemed like forever, Ava nodded. “Alright, I believe you. I can’t think of anything that would justify what happened in my other recovered memories, however, so I’m not even going to ask you to explain them. I’m just going to ask you one thing. Can you fix me?”

Tony grinned. He grabbed Ava by the wrist, and she grabbed her sandwich with the other hand, munching on it as they took the elevator to the basement workshop. There was a cot set up in the middle of the room, and the blood stains around it were a little unnerving, especially since Ava knew that it was her blood, spilled by injuries caused by Tony. 

But the man seemed so eager to restore things to the way they were before, and Ava agreed that from what little she knew, that would be best for everyone. Tony motioned for Ava to finish off her sandwich, and then he handed her a glass that looked like water. She raised one eyebrow. “What’s this?”

Tony sighed. “Well, I’m going to have to access your computer to get a look at what’s wrong with it, and that involves me opening your head up. And despite the common misconception, I’m not really a big fan of doing open surgery on a conscious patient.”

Ava nodded. “Fair enough.” She tilted back the glass to gulp down the solution, grimacing at the chlorine-like taste. After a few minutes, she started feeling sleepy, and her eyelids began to droop. She was vaguely aware of Tony guiding her gently onto the cot, and the edges of her vision began to get black. Then her eyes slid shut completely, and Tony began bustling around, fussing with wires and computers, and ordering his robots to do whatever he needed them to do.

There was the soft click of high heels coming closer, and he knew immediately that it was Pepper. There were no other women in his life with access to the basement, since he didn’t even often let the other Avengers down there. If they needed to see something, he would show it to them in one of the other workshops. 

Pepper bit back her gasp. “Tony… what exactly are you doing?”

Tony barely spared the woman a glance, and sounded distracted when he spoke, the way he always sounded when he found himself a new project. “Huh? Oh… read the journal that’s sitting on the kitchen counter upstairs. And don’t worry, she wasn’t hostile or anything, and she agreed to this.”

Pepper stared at him mutely, and turned to leave. She didn’t want to see anyone’s head get cut open, let alone someone she cared about as much as Ava. She hurried back up, and found the notebook on the table. She brought it into the living room to get comfortable on her sofa as she read it, and soon found that she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the pages of neat scrawls.


	40. Chapter 40

There were muffled voices that sounded like they were hiding behind some pillows or something. Ava tried to open her eyes to see what was going on, but her body refused to cooperate, and her eyelids were too heavy to lift. Just that small effort tired her out, and she slipped back into her dreamless sleep.

A few hours later, Ava blinked and sat up. There was no one around, and she had been moved back to her room. She looked around and felt a rush of warmth as she recognized everything in the room, and knew where she had obtained each thing. She grinned to herself. All of her memories were back.

The girl stretched and sat up, and she couldn’t wait to go running downstairs to tell Tony and Pepper that everything was going to be okay. She walked over to the door, then hesitated. What if Tony hated her for trying to kill him before, back at Obadiah’s place? Or worse, what if he still wanted to give her away, the way he had after being in the hospital?

Ava turned and plopped back down on her bed. “Jarvis?” Her voice was a little scratchy sounding from disuse, and she went into the bathroom to gulp down a glass of water. She returned to the same spot as before, and tried again. “Jarvis?”

There was a brief pause before Jarvis responded. “Ava. Your vitals are all good, and you appear to be in good condition. However, I cannot assess your mental state at this time.”

Ava laughed. “I missed you.”

The electronic voice softened. “I have missed you as well.” There was only a moment of silence before Jarvis spoke again. “Shall I call Master Stark and Miss Potts?”

Ava sighed. “I’m not sure. What are they doing right now?”

“Master Stark is currently drinking scotch while pacing the living room, and Miss Potts is sitting on the couch, watching.”

Ava nodded. “Well, that doesn’t seem like something that it would be bad to interrupt. You can send them up. I mean, if they want to.”

“Still underestimating yourself, I see.”

Ava shrugged. “Whatever. Just please send them up, okay?”

A few minutes later, Ava heard the sound of the elevator. She went out into the common room, and she couldn’t help giggling at the sight of Tony silently trying to shake off Frederick, who was currently gnawing on his jacket sleeve. Ava decided to save him, and she brushed past Pepper to crouch in front of Frederick, and give him a mock stern look. 

She wagged her pointer finger. “Now you listen here, young man. Haven’t I told you a million times before that it’s wrong to munch on Tony’s clothes?” She didn’t even glance up at the adults before continuing her talk with the goat. “Now now, I know what you’re thinking. How would I know if I’ve told you something like that a million times before? Well, I know because a genius named Tony Stark was able to fix me, that’s how.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “So are you ever going to tell me why you bought a goat on the internet?”

Ava stood up and wiggled her eyebrows in a ridiculous manner. “Of course not, where would be the fun in that? Though if you want to use up your question, feel free to do so.”

Tony shook his head. “Nah. I’m going to wait until I come up with the perfect que-” He was cut off by a loud ringing noise. Ava grinned sheepishly, and popped back into her room. She grabbed her phone, and frowned when she saw her mother’s number on the screen. How unusual. But Ava was in a good mood, and she felt like it was one of those days where everything just had to work out. She gulped nervously, then answered the call.

“Mother?”

There was a familiar laugh, one that sounded rather maniacal. “Nope, try again.”

Ava frowned and bared her teeth, even though the subject of her anger wouldn’t be able to see her from wherever he was hiding. “Obadiah! What the hell do you want?”

He sounded a little disappointed. “You’re not going to ask me what I’m doing with your mother and whether or not she’s alright? Well, I suppose if that’s how you want to play it, that’s your choice.”

Ava shook her head. “I already know that my parents used to work with you. I also know why I can do the things that I can. No thanks to you, I’m sure.” She took a deep breath. “So just tell me what the hell you want, or I’m going to hang up on you now, play it off as a prank, and let you rot in whatever hell hole you’re in right now.”

Obadiah made a tsking noise. “Now now, that’s no way to talk to the man responsible for your creation.”

Ava narrowed her eyes. “I’ve read my mother’s journal. It tracks the entire experiment for the past sixteen years. I know everything.”

Obadiah just sounded annoyed now. “Really? Because lovely Margie here has never once mentioned that she was keeping a journal. I wonder if you just gave up the biggest secret that she was trying to keep. And I also wonder whether or not you’ve let Tony and Pepper in on the big secret.”

Ava nodded. She thought she heard the door opening behind her, but she just ignored it. “Of course they know everything. I let them read the journal too. I just want to know what was written on those missing pages.”

Obadiah answered bemusedly. “Missing pages? I’ve never even seen this journal that you’re talking about, let alone had a chance to tear out certain pages. Though I did notice your voice get slightly higher pitched when you said that you wanted to know about the contents of the missing pages. Almost like you’re lying, or putting on a performance for someone who is listening in on your end of the conversation.”

Ava shook her head. “Nope, it’s just me and you.”

Obadiah lowered his voice conspiratorially. “You wanted to know what I want, right? I’ll make this simple. Give yourself up now, and I won’t brutally torture and murder both of your parents.”

Ava’s grip on her phone tightened. “Do whatever you want. They were never my parents in any way.”

Obadiah laughed. “As much as I want to tell you that you’re right, and you should just leave them to die, I have to remind you that that is an attitude unbecoming of someone who wishes to someday be a superhero, don’t you think? They are innocent civilians, no matter what else they’ve done.”

Ava ground her teeth together. “Go to hell. If I want to be a superhero, then I can just save them myself. I don’t need to do anything stupid. Especially when that could end up with you taking over the world or something. Two lives are not worth billions.”

The man on the other end chuckled. “You know, I think I really like you. I’m glad that we could speak now that your memories have been returned.”

Ava’s eyes widened in shock. “How did you know about that?”

Obadiah laughed again. “Haven’t you learned anything by now? This is the part where most superheroes sit down and contemplate the life lesson that they’ve learned. Yours would probably be that I see everything that goes on, and don’t you forget it.”

Ava managed to shake her head again, though the action wasn’t as strong this time. “If I wanted to be your slave, I wouldn’t have bothered escaping. Oh, and by the way, you may want to pack some sunscreen. I heard it’s extra hot where I’m going to send you.”

The amused chuckle that followed only worked to grate on her nerves further.


	41. Chapter 41

Ava pulled the phone away from her ear, and ended the call. She was biting her lip so hard that it was starting to bleed, and Tony gently placed one hand on her shoulder. She spun around faster than he would have thought possible, and he managed to see a glimpse of the holographic knife before it disappeared.

Tony sighed. “Was that-?”

Ava nodded slowly. “It was Obadiah. He has my… parents.”

Tony scowled. “I seriously hope that you’re not actually considering any kind of rescue plan. If you recall, the last time we went after your parents, things didn’t end so well.”

Ava shook her head stubbornly. “That was different. We found definitive proof that they moved away on their own,” She blinked back the tears that suddenly sprang to the corners of her eyes. It still hurt that they had decided to leave without her, even if they had never been close, and Margie had left behind something very valuable. “But this time, we know for sure that they’re in danger.”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “And how do you know that Obadiah wasn’t just lying to you? Did you actually hear your… mom or dad’s voice?”

The teen sighed. She knew that she would get no where by continuing this argument with Tony. “No, I didn’t. I guess that we should, uh… why don’t we catch up with each other? I feel like I haven’t even seen you in ages.”

Tony nodded, and stood back so Ava could leave the room first. He knew that she would be mad, but he wasn’t going to let the girl out of his sight, at least for now. All it would take is for him to turn his back for five minutes, and she would somehow be in trouble again. Tony wondered if all parents had to go through this feeling of horror at all the things that could happen.

The three people went down to the living room on the first floor, and settled in. Now that the initial rush of Ava’s memory being restored had worn off, the atmosphere felt pretty awkward. They all shifted uncomfortably in their seats, no one really sure what to say.

Ava finally broke the silence. “I was going to get you a ‘sorry I tried to kill you while under some weird amnesiac mind control’, but the Hallmark store was all out.”

Pepper frowned. “This isn’t funny.”

Tony snorted. “It’s a little funny.” He ignored Pepper’s death glare, knowing that she was going to take out her anger on him later, when they were alone.

Ava jumped up, and began pacing back and forth through the spacious room, like she couldn’t bear to stay still for any longer than a few seconds at a time. “What happened… it’s not really important. I mean, the important thing should be that we’re all safe and sound here, with our memories fully intact.”

As she was pacing, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the large mirror that was hanging on the wall. She quickly backtracked to stare at herself again. There was a foreign gleam in her eyes, and it sent a shiver down her spine. It was definitely bad, whatever it was. She remembered Obadiah saying that he sees everything that goes on, and she shivered again.

Tony sighed. “So, I know that this probably isn’t the best time, but it does need to be mentioned as soon as possible. Fury has given me an assignment, and I don’t want to leave you here alone, so I think it would be for the best if you just come with me-”

“NO!” Ava blushed, and shrunk back. She hadn’t meant to actually shout at Tony, but she needed to get her point across. If she saw or heard anything important during this mission, then Obadiah would also have access to that information, and that would be a very bad thing.

Tony didn’t even bat an eye at the outburst, he just shrugged. “Alright, I’ll tell him to send someone else, then.”

Ava lowered her voice. “Tony, you should probably still go on your mission. You don’t want to piss off Fury, and besides, you enjoy being Ironman. I don’t want you to have to stop because of me. And you don’t need to treat me like a child. I can handle myself just fine.”

Tony laughed. “No, it’s nothing to do with you. I mean, I know that you can handle yourself, I’ve seen you in action. I would just feel much better knowing exactly where you are, in case there’s an emergency or something.”

Ava frowned. “Fine.” It was moments like these that Ava wished she knew the art of writing legibly behind her back. Or at least sign language. But since neither of those things were really options, Ava remained silent. Obadiah would know right away if she mentioned his spying, and who knows how he would decide to punish her for that. Ava knew that she would just have to be extra careful to not overhear or oversee anything that Obadiah could possibly find useful. She sighed. “This has all just been so stressful. I’m really sorry, but I’m going to go back to my room.”

Tony nodded, and watched Ava head back to the elevator. He turned to Pepper. “Was it just me, or was that a strange reaction to my suggestion of taking her along? I mean, wasn’t she the one who was so eager to go out on superhero missions just a few months ago?”

Pepper shrugged. “Well, admittedly, her last mission didn’t end so well. Unless you’re the type who considers a long term coma and amnesia to be a good thing?”

Tony shook his head. “No, of course not. I just, I just want her to be safe, you know?”

Pepper nodded. “I understand, Tony, I really do. As hard as it is to believe, I do care about her as much as you. But to a kid, safety isn’t the most important thing. She would much rather be happy than safe.”

Ava walked tiredly onto the third floor, and watched as the elevator doors closed behind her. Frederick trotted up and butted his head against her thigh, demanding to be pet. Ava giggled, and crouched down to be in a better position for petting the animal. “You really do understand me, don’t you Frederick?”

Frederick made a bleating noise, then stared up at Ava with a very serious expression on his face. Ava lowered her voice. “Of course I understand you, Ava, I love you because you pet me and feed me and take care of me.”

Ava sighed, and shook her head. It was probably a sign of insanity to regress to talking to goats and pretending to hear said goat’s response. The bleating behind her got a little louder, and Ava went into her room to grab a treat for Frederick. When she stepped back into the main room, she gasped and dropped the treat that was in her hand.

Standing before her was Frederick, which wasn’t all that unusual. What was strange was the fact that he was now so tall that his back brushed against the ceiling, and Ava had to tilt her head all the way back to see his eyes. The teen pinched her arm, and winced at the brief pain. So no, it wasn’t just a dream.


	42. Chapter 42

Tony jumped up the second he heard his name being hesitantly shouted from the third floor. This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to let Ava out of his sight. Bad things always happened when she was on her own. “To-oo-ny! Tony!”

He hurried up to the third floor, and paused when he saw Ava staring in horror at… nothing. She was pointing at the ceiling and babbling on about something, but Tony couldn’t figure out what. Frederick gave Tony a worried look, like he knew that his owner was acting unusual.

Tony grabbed Ava’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

She turned to look at him with wide eyes, and he saw that they looked like microchips, but instead of the normal green, they were silver. “How do you not see that!?”

Tony took a deep breath, and even though he was an atheist, he prayed for Ava to be okay, and well, not crazy. “Why don’t you just tell me what you see.”

Ava stared at him like he would have to be crazy to miss it, but she opened her mouth anyways. “How can you not see that Frederick is like the size of a small dinosaur now?”

Tony sighed, and rubbed his palms across his eyes. He wondered why everything couldn’t just go back to normal. Why did there always have to be one more problem. The phone in Ava’s room rang, and she scampered towards it, carefully flattening herself against the wall as she went. She slammed the door shut before Tony could follow her.

She picked up the phone. “What did you do to Frederick?” she hissed.

There was an amused chuckle. “How sad is it when a child is more concerned with her pet goat than with her parents’ lives. But don’t worry, I’ve done nothing to Frederick. It’s you who is flawed.”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Obadiah sighed. “Well, you refused that mission that Tony was going to bring you on. You only did it to deny me information, so I decided that you need a little punishment. I have all the power here, Ava. I can control everything you see and hear with just the tap of a few buttons. It would be only too easy to make Tony or Pepper look like an enemy, to watch you attack them and destroy them in their unwillingness to fight you back.”

The teen scowled, even though the object of her hatred wasn’t there. “What do you want, Obadiah? What could you possibly want from me?”

He chuckled. “Just keep up the steady spy work, and your parents, in all senses of the word, will be perfectly fine.”

Ava felt like crying. “Fine.” She hung up, and then let herself cry. She didn’t care that Obadiah would be able to see her tears. Wait! That was perfect! Ava let a few tears fall so Obadiah would know that she was crying, and then she closed her eyes. She walked over to her desk as quietly as possible, while trying not to bump into anything.

Ava grabbed her notebook and pen, then turned on the radio very loud, to drown out the scratching of pen on paper. She had to keep it simple, but easy to understand. She wrote what she thought of, and hoped that it was written legible enough to understand. Then she held it behind her back as she opened her eyes.

She opened the door to her room and stepped out, and saw that Tony was sitting next to Frederick, leaning against the wall opposite her bedroom door. Perfect. Tony frowned when he saw her red face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Ava sniffled. “Nothing.”

Tony raised one eyebrow. “Seriously? Nothing is making you cry?”

Ava frowned, and hoped that Tony wasn’t going to get too upset. “You know what? I can’t do this right now. I’m going back to my room.” She made sure to hold the side of the notebook with the words facing Tony, and wiggled it so he would know to take it. She could only walk so slowly without it being suspicious. 

Tony got up and grabbed the notebook that was clearly being offered to him, and then watched as Ava stormed into her room and slammed the door shut. He looked down at the notebook. It was messy, and the letters were too big, and some were overlapping in spots that they shouldn’t have been, but it wasn’t too difficult to comprehend.

‘Obie sees and hears everything i do. no important infor around me. he punish me w/ illusion scry’

Tony gripped the notebook. That would explain why Ava had turned down the mission without being allowed to hear it. She didn’t want Obadiah getting any of that important information. And illusions could be very dangerous. Tony needed to figure out how Obadiah had managed to bug Ava, though based on her anatomy, it probably wasn’t even that difficult. And he needed to figure out how to help Ava without letting on that she had told him anything. This was going to be tough.


	43. Chapter 43

Ava was brushing her hair. It was something that felt pretty normal, and she was glad to at least have that. She frowned at the small smudge of ink that seemed to be on the tip of her nose, and she leaned closer to get a better look. A moment later, she realized that Obadiah could be seeing all of this, and she immediately jerked back, and turned away from the mirror.

This was insane. That psychopath could be listening in or watching Ava at any moment, and there was no way for her to know when he was monitoring her and when he was off doing other evil stuff. She had given Tony all the information she could, and the teen could only hope that the genius would figure out a way to fix all of this.

Ava left her room, and went over to the balcony. A quick glance around, and she didn’t see either adult around, so she grinned as she climbed over the railing. She sprang off, and let herself fall a bit before her wings appeared and unfurled. She laughed as she began flying around the room. She closed her eyes, and let herself feel nothing but the dreamy sensation of flying.

Tony watched from the doorway, not wanting to interrupt. Ava looked so at peace right now, and the news he had wasn’t going to make her feel better. Then he frowned. He had needed to think of a way to get Ava information without letting Obadiah get it to. It had to be something that she couldn’t see or hear… Tony grinned at his brilliant idea. 

Jarvis spoke, interrupting Ava’s flying session without meaning to. “Sir, your guest has arrived.” 

Tony nodded. “Let him in.” He watched Ava glide to the floor, and then her wings were gone. She walked over to him, and raised one eyebrow questioningly. Tony shook his head. “You should stay and meet him.”

Ava nodded, and followed Tony into the living room, which was the best place on the first floor to have guests. Ava frowned at tilted her head. It sounded like someone with three feet was walking over. How weird. After a momentary pause, the footsteps sounded more normal.

Tony nodded as his guest entered the room. The stranger was wearing sunglasses even though they were inside. He smiled, but didn’t look around the room. Tony walked over, and grabbed the man’s hand to shake it. “Ava, this is my friend Matt. Matt, this is my… daughter.”

Matt couldn’t hide his look of surprise, since those glasses weren’t that big. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

Tony shrugged. “I guess you could call her one of the Avengers’ best kept secrets. For good reason, too.” He chuckled, and led Matt over to the couch. Then he went and grabbed a pad of paper and a small stylus. He handed both items to Matt. Tony made a soft noise, so Ava turned her attention to him. He smiled. “Why don’t I get some coffee?”

A moment later, the pad was pressed into Ava’s hands, and she was about to look down at it. There was a crash as a mug slipped from Tony’s hands, and shattered on the floor. Ava frowned. She clutched the pad, but didn’t look at it, since she was too distracted by the hot liquid that was quickly making its way towards Pepper’s favorite carpet.

She laughed. “You know Virginia’s going to be pissed if you get even the smallest stain on that carpet. I still don’t think she’s ever forgiven you for dirtying her couch.”

Tony’s eyes widened in protest. “You’re the one who dirtied the couch!” Ava chuckled. Tony kept talking about random nonsense ‘in his defense’ while Matt reached over and smoothly guided Ava’s hand onto the paper. She forced herself not to look, since she had no idea what was going on.

There were letters scratched onto the paper, deeply enough to be felt without looking at him, but it was still tough to decipher all of it. But Ava continued to stare in Tony’s direction while she concentrated on figuring out what was said on the paper. As far as she could tell, it was something along the lines of, you’re learning braille, Obi can’t know. Apparently Tony had taken Ava’s note seriously, which was good.

Matt took the pad away, and Ava refused to let herself look down. Tony turned on the tv, and Ava was relieved that she wasn’t expected to keep a verbal conversation going while trying to learn braille. That would be a bit much. A few minutes later, the pad was placed back in Ava’s waiting hands. She felt around, and realized that it was the first half of the alphabet, with sets of dots underneath.

She wanted to sigh, but Obadiah would probably notice something like that. She did grin, though. That was something that the evil man wouldn’t be able to see. Once both Tony and Ava had mastered the art of braille, they would be able to defeat Obadiah and get back Ava’s parents. It was a winning situation on all sides, other than Obadiah’s, of course. This was going to be difficult, but Ava felt up to the task.


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to warn y'all- I have absolutely no knowledge of how the law works, and very little interest in doing any research, so just pretend that everything that happens is accurate

Tony shouted up at the girl hovering right under the ceiling. “Ava! Get down here right now!” He had never thought he would become a shouting type of parent, but there was no other way for them to hear each other from so far apart.

She shook her head and scooted further up, until her back was pressed completely against the smooth ceiling. She could do that, since her wings just went right through the solid roof. “I’m not coming down until you admit you were wrong!”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not playing this game, Ava! You’ll get bored and come down after a while once you realize that I’m not even paying attention to you anymore!”

He stormed out, and went down to his lab to tinker around for a little while. After a bit, he threw down his screwdriver in frustration. “Jarvis, show me what Ava’s up to.” He looked over at the big screen on the wall, and frowned. Ava was still up near the ceiling, riding around on what appeared to be a shimmery metal pegasus. He scowled, and turned away from the sight.

After a while of Tony fiddling around, but not actually getting anything done, Jarvis spoke. “Miss Potts has returned home.”

Tony smiled. Finally something good. Ava usually listened to Pepper over Tony, as completely unfair as that was. Probably because they were both girls, and had some kind of girl code that they needed to uphold. Tony went upstairs, and saw Pepper standing in the doorway to the living room, one eyebrow raised. Then she turned to Tony. She snickered. “I can see that you’re getting better at this everyday.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Well? Are you going to convince her to come down here, or what?”

Pepper shrugged. “It sounds to me like this is something that needs to be sorted out between the two of you. According to Ava, you refuse to admit that you were wrong-”

Tony waved aside Pepper’s words. “She’s just being sore. There’s absolutely no way I was wrong. I’ll even prove it to you once Matt arrives.”

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest, but she seemed more amused than anything else. “Alright then. When will Mr Murdock be arriving?”

Jarvis piped in at that. “In approximately twenty-three minutes.”

Tony peered up at the teen. “Hey! One last chance to come down now and own up to your mistakes!”

Ava shook her head. “I’m afraid that I can’t do that, since I haven’t made any!” Her voice sounded louder than before, and Tony had to squint for a moment to spot the small megaphone she was holding smugly.

Tony threw his hands up in annoyance, and retreated to the kitchen. After a bit, Jarvis interrupted Tony’s session of sitting silently at the counter and doing nothing. “Mr Murdock has arrived.” Tony stood up to go greet his friend. He shook hands, then led him politely to the living room, and let the man find the couch on his own.

After a minute of awkward silence, Matt raised his eyebrows and tilted his head back. “It sounds like there’s someone… up there?”

Ava’s voice responded loud and clear. “Tony, show him your notepad! Tell him what you supposedly didn’t do wrong, and then we’ll see who was right!”

Tony shrugged. “Fine!” He went over to the kitchen, and pulled the notepad out from a small drawer. It was placed there so Ava wouldn’t accidentally glance at it when she walked past it. It was full of braille messages that Tony and Ava, and occasionally Pepper, had been practicing. It would be too strange for Matt to show up everyday, or on any kind of a schedule, so they had to make do with what they could work with.

He handed the pad to Matt, and directed the man’s hand to a section in the middle. It was okay to speak in a voice that was only a little quieter than normal, since Ava wouldn’t be able to pick up from so far up. “I wrote ‘you’re a dummy for not being able to figure this out’. Then she responded with, ‘you wrote did it wrong’.”

Matt snorted as he quickly brushed his fingers over the letters, and then tilted his head so it was facing Tony. “I have to say it, but she’s right. You messed up the second ‘m’ in dummy, so it technically says ‘dumxy’. Actually, I’m not sure if I pronounced it right or not, but you get the gist of it. The point is, she was right, and you were wrong.”

Ava laughed through the megaphone. “Well don’t you feel so smart now! Now admit you were wrong, and we can all move past this!”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “It was a tiny mistake! Anyone could have done the same thing! For all I know, you messed it up just to sabotage me! I bet you’re just trying to ruin my life, aren’t you!”

“You already know that I am!”

“Get down here!”

“No!”

Tony gritted his teeth. “Get down here right now, or you’ll be in big trouble!”

Ava chuckled, but didn’t make any move descend. Unfortunately for Pepper and Matt, Jarvis interrupted the amusing struggle. Even though Ava had already been around for so long, it was still so obvious how out of his element Tony was. “Sir, there are visitors at the door.”

Tony frowned. “Who?”

There was a pause. “They say that they are from CPS and they have shown identification to prove it. Should I let them in?”

Tony glanced at Pepper, whose lips were pressed together in a thin line. He couldn’t help sounding a little worried. “Well, we can’t just… not let them in.” He looked up at Ava, and she was smart enough to know that the time for playing around was over. Well, almost over.

Her wings disappeared, and she dropped straight down, much to Tony and Pepper’s horror. At just a few feet away from the ground her wings were back, and then they were gone again, letting her fall gracefully the last few feet. She smirked at Tony. “Aren’t you going to answer the door?”

Matt stood up.”Um, I really wouldn’t want to get in the way of a family matter, so I think I’ll just be on my way. Maybe another time?”

Tony nodded. “Sure. I’ll see you out?”

Matt shook his head, and grabbed his cane. “Nah, I’ll be fine.” Tony walked over to the hallway anyways, and watched Matt step outside, and two official looking people stepped in, flashing their badges, along with two police officers.

They walked over to Tony, and their eyes were already full of judgement. He glanced down to see he was wearing a grease-stained wife beater, and ratty old jeans. But if they hadn’t made an appointment, they shouldn’t expect to see the spiffy clean Tony Stark they obviously expected. 

A man looked Tony over a few times. “Mr Anthony Stark?”

Tony nodded. “Yes…?”

The man frowned. “We’re here on behalf of the welfare of the child, Avalon Bench. She was reported missing, and then there were many accounts claiming they saw her here. You have ten minutes to explain yourself, Mr Stark, before you’re placed under arrest for kidnapping.”


	45. Chapter 45

So apparently if someone had enough money and enough lawyers, they couldn’t actually get arrested for anything short of being caught in the act of murdering someone. Tony was pissed that he had to learn that interesting tidbit. 

He was really more angry with himself, than anything, though. Ava had asked him to help her get her parents back a while ago, but he had said no, and now they were still missing. It hadn’t occurred to him to think about the fact that Ava was technically missing as well.

Margie and Stan Bench didn’t exactly seem like they were going to rush to file a missing person’s report, but maybe once the adults were reported missing, it didn’t take long for the police to realize that they couldn’t locate the child. 

Tony furiously hammered away at his latest project. This was all entirely unfair. Ava had told the CPS agents herself that she was staying here of her own free will, and that she didn’t want to leave.

While the woman looked sympathetic, the other agent and the two officers all said that she had to leave, at least for now. They all gave each other knowing looks, agreeing that the child must have stockholm syndrome or something. Though why Tony Stark would ever kidnap a kid was beyond them. He had plenty of money to adopt, if that’s what was going on.

Either way, this whole situation was rather strange and unusual, and no one seemed like they were going to come out of this happy. There was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him, and Tony slowly turned to see Pepper standing there. She took a few steps forward, but didn’t actually invade his space. She smiled softly. “Hey. Have you gotten any sleep this week?”

Tony shrugged. “Not really sure. Doesn’t really matter.”

Pepper sighed. “Tony…” He turned away, back to his work.

Pepper couldn’t truly understand. When Ava had been taken by Obie, that was at least an evil that Tony knew. That was something he could fight against. He could track the girl down, and cause lots of destruction to find her. He could fight as hard as possible, without having to worry about the consequences. But with this? Tony couldn’t do anything. 

There was no way for him to fight the system. He couldn’t barge in in his Iron Man suit and make everything okay. He couldn’t just blast down some doors and rescue Ava like she was a damsel in distress. And Ava had to know it too, because she certainly hadn’t tried to break out.

Tony was tired of this. He might not really deserve to be happy, but Ava did. She was a good kid, a great kid, and she had been given a rough hand from the start. But now, after all of the hardships she had been through, Ava deserved to finally get what she wanted. And she had told Tony before that that was for them to be a family.

But Pepper couldn’t understand that because she was never the one who smashed in doors to rescue people. She couldn’t save someone from an evil villain, and she couldn’t save someone from an evil group that thought they were doing a good thing by tearing a family apart.

Tony sighed as he remembered Ava’s first day in this place. She had called him a kidnapper. Tony had justified it, though, saying that it was for her own good, and that he was actually doing a good thing. But maybe he had just been lying to himself? Tony shook his head. No, he knew that Ava was where she wanted to be when she was here, even if the conditions weren’t entirely ideal yet.

Then Tony’s eyes widened. Ava was useless to Obie if she was dragged away from Tony, since she would no longer be in a prime position to learn any important information. If Obie didn’t need her anymore… then who knows what he could do to her. Tony shuddered at the thoughts that bounced around in his imagination. He didn’t really want to think about that.

Pepper sighed. “Tony, you really need to take a break from here. It’s unhealthy for you to spend so much time down here.”

“It’s better than the alternative.” Tony said grimly. The alternative being alcohol, of course. Pepper raised one eyebrow as she thought about the last time she had actually seen Tony have a drink. It had to have been a while ago. He probably hadn’t really had more than an occasional single drink since the beginning of Ava’s stay. It probably had to do with Ava. When Pepper really thought about it, most of the changes in their lives had to do with Ava. But that wasn’t a bad thing, since most of those changes had been for the better.

“So then I take it you weren’t interested in getting some sleep before going to court? That’s pretty sad, Tony. Don’t you want to make a good impression.”

Tony turned around with wide eyes. “Wait, that’s today?”

Pepper glanced down at her watch, then back up at Tony. “Well, technically today. But if you come to bed now, then there’ll be plenty of time for you to get some sleep.” Her voice softened. “We need to win this one, Tony.”

That’s when Tony realized that of course Pepper understands. Normally, whenever there’s a problem, Pepper can just pull out Tony’s checkbook and make it go away. They never had to go to court or anything, since that would be bad for the already besmirched name of Tony Stark. But here, she couldn’t write a check and make this all go away. It wasn’t just some lawsuit from a tiny rival company, or a charge of public intoxication. If they lost, then Pepper couldn’t just ask how many zeroes, and take care of the fallout. If they lost this, then they would have lost Ava. So Pepper did understand what Tony was feeling.

He pulled off his heavy gloves, and set them down carefully on his workbench. Then he turned to grab Pepper’s outstretched hand, and followed her up to their room. He only bothered changing out of his grease stained shirt because Pepper insisted that she couldn’t let him ruin their nice silk sheets.

Once they were settled underneath the blankets, Tony and Pepper pulled closer to each other. They both needed the comfort, even though neither of them could really get it from the other. Ava had become part of their odd family, whether they liked it or not, so they had to get her back. They had to.


	46. Chapter 46

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn- apparently the last time I edited this chapter was December 29, 2015. No wonder it all feels so strange in comparison to my newer writing xD

Ava paced around the bedroom she was staying in. It was nice enough, though of course it wasn’t nearly up to par with the bedroom standards that she had been living in her whole life, it was still pretty nice. But Ava wouldn’t care even if she had been offered a bedroom in a castle, or something. She just wanted to go home already.

She was exhausted by the parade of people that she had been forced to talk to in the past week. There had been psychiatrists, and police officers, and CPS officers, and lawyers, and reporters, and just about everyone else who wanted a piece of what could be one of the biggest stories of the year. Who cares about terrorism overseas when there’s a billionaire who ‘kidnapped’ a child?

So many people had spoken with Ava, and she had given them all the same story. That she ran away from her asshole parents, her path had crossed with Tony Stark’s, he had been impressed by her knowledge and took her in, and she had slowly become a part of his family. It was true, even if she couldn’t exactly share every single detail of her adventures. Everyone already knew that Tony was Iron Man, but if they knew that Ava had gifts, they would probably want to poke and prod her for the rest of her life.

Tomorrow was the day that they were all going to meet in court. Tony was going to be there with a butt-load of lawyers, and the state was going to do the same. Ava had no idea why the state of New York was so intent on bringing Tony down considering how many times he had saved them all, but that didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Ava’s future was at stake. Her future with the people she cared about most.

Ava wondered, just for a moment, how her parents would react to this whole trial if they were around. Would they even bother to show up at court? Would they care that their daughter had been staying with one of their biggest rivals for so long? It was hard to tell. 

Margie and Stan Bench had been nothing but abrasive, unloving assholes to Ava her whole life. But they had done her the courtesy of leaving all of her things behind when they completely disappeared. And they had left behind that journal for Ava to find, so that she would know where she truly belonged. Of course, that one small thing didn’t make up for a lifetime of neglect, but it was a start.

But Ava was also worried about Obadiah. If she was no longer allowed to stay with Tony, then she would no longer be in any position to be gaining classified information, and Obadiah would have no need for her anymore. What would he do then, if Ava was no longer useful to him? All Ava knew on that front was that she certainly didn’t want to find out.

There was a soft knock on the door, and then it opened up a bit. The young woman who was boarding Ava until the conclusion of the trial, Ms Becca Anderson, was standing there. “Hey, maybe you should try to get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow, and I could practically hear you burning a hole in the carpet from all of your pacing. You don’t need to worry. No one’s going to send you to a place you don’t want to be.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Well then I guess my biggest problem is that everyone thinks they know what I want, and they clearly don’t.”

Becca shrugged. “All I know is that this is a very complicated situation, and the easiest way to get through it is to just cooperate with everyone who needs your cooperation, and at least act mature throughout the proceedings, if you want to be taken seriously.”

Ava nodded. “I’ll try to get some sleep. Thanks.”

Becca nodded. “Good night Ava.” She closed the door and walked away. 

Ava walked over to the bed, and flopped down onto it. It didn’t feel quite right, which made sense, since it wasn’t her bed. But the worst part was that it smelled entirely wrong. Every house had a unique scent, and the scent of Tony’s house was the one that she always associated with home. Or at least, it was the one she had associated with home for what... the past year already? Time really had flown by.

Ava had been sleeping on these weirdly scented sheets, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. She stripped the bed of all sheets and blankets, and stuffed them as far into the corner of the room as possible. Then Ava just laid on the bare mattress in the dark, staring up at the bland ceiling. She knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get any sleep tonight.

* * *

Tony walked into the courthouse. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that he had pushed his way in. There were so many reporters from all different papers and channels, all fighting to get close enough at shove their microphones in Tony’s face and ask him their questions.

He waved them all aside, telling them that he had no comment to make. He had never been particularly shy with the media before, but he didn’t want to drag Ava’s name through the press before even stepping into the damned courtroom.

The reporters followed him inside the building, though they stopped at the door to the courtroom itself, since the judge had specifically declared that there was to be no media during the trial. Maybe she was smart enough to know that Tony would be a handful enough on his own, let alone when he had so many cameras pointed at him. 

But Tony was going to behave himself. He wasn’t going to do or say anything that would force the court’s hand in saying that Ava couldn’t stay with him anymore. Pepper was already waiting at their table, since she had had to go to work and sort out a few things before showing up here.

Tony strode over to her confidently, and slid into the chair next to her. He spoke in a soft whisper. “Is everything okay?”

Pepper raised one eyebrow. “Well, the board was just tickled silly to find that the owner of their company is going to court on charges of kidnapping. It really did make their day, Tony, I promise.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I meant is everything okay with you?” Pepper opened her mouth, but remained silent, and she stared over his shoulder. Tony turned and saw a young woman walking in, but more importantly, was Ava walking in front. They got to the front row seat, and Ava paused. 

The woman motioned for Ava to sit on the long bench, but instead, the girl turned and dashed through the little swinging gates. She jumped over to the defense table, and wrapped her arms around Tony in a tight hug. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she promised.

Tony returned the hug, and a moment later, felt Ava being pulled away from him, back over to the bench. The jurors were already seated, and they had witnessed that display of emotion. Tony could only hope that it would help his case. He also hoped that Ava wasn’t going to get in any trouble for that.

A few minutes later, everyone was told to be silent, and the judge entered the courtroom. It was time for this trial to begin.


	47. Chapter 47

Ava shook her head. “No, he never held me there against my will. I chose to stay in Stark Tower.”

The lawyer tilted her head. “He never held you against your will? Even when you first ‘stayed’ with him?”

Ava shook her head again. “Never.”

The lawyer had a strange grin on her face. “After Mr Stark was taken into custody, we were able to requisition audio files from the past year in Mr Stark’s residence. This particular clip caught our attention.”

She held up a clicker, and pointed it at the tv that had been wheeled into the room. She pressed play, and motioned for everyone to stay silent. The voice that came out of the speakers was undeniably Tony Stark’s. “Jarvis, I want that room on lockdown. Our guest isn’t to leave, okay?”

The AI responded in a calm voice. “Sir, isn’t that akin to kidnapping?”

Tony’s voice responded, slightly grouchy. “Just do it.”

The lawyer cut off the feed, and turned back to Ava with one eyebrow raised. “Does that sound like a consensual situation to you?”

Ava shrugged. “Tony had good reason to believe that I was a danger to myself.” She paused, and closed her eyes for a moment to take a deep breath. Then she peered up at the lawyer. “When Tony found me, it was right after I’d jumped off of a bridge. If you listened to the other sound bits, you’d know that I wasn’t entirely stable at the time, and was willing to endanger myself. He was saving my life by keeping me there. And it was only for a day. After that, I was there entirely by choice.”

The lawyer stared at Ava. “First you said that you were never held there against your will. Now you’re saying that you were held against your will for a day. Next thing we know, you’re going to be saying that it was only a week you were held against your will.”

Tony’s lawyer stood up. “Objection! Leading the witness.”

The judge nodded. “Sustained.” He looked at the lawyer. “Please, continue.”

The lawyer looked back at Ava. “So, I just wish to be perfectly clear. The first time you ever stepped into Tony Stark’s home, was it of your own free will?”

Ava blinked as she considered the question carefully. The first time she’d been brought to the tower, it was while she was unconscious. After that, the first time she had left had been on a walk, and she had then returned easily enough. So the first time she had actually stepped into the tower had been completely her choice. If the lawyer had just asked about her first time being there in general, then Ava would have been stumped. 

She smiled gently, and nodded. “Yes. The first time I stepped into the Stark Tower, it had been only because that’s where I wanted to be.”

The lawyer frowned, but she couldn’t argue against how genuine the kid sounded. She cleared her throat. “Do you believe that Mr Stark had the right to take guardianship of you, despite the fact that your parents had no knowledge of your interactions with him?”

Ava nodded again. “Tony had every right to take me in, and he did it out of the kindness of his heart. My parents were terrible parents. I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it yet, but it’s true. I practically starved to death under their so called ‘care’, and when I was hospitalized from a car accident, all my mother would say to me is that I should have done a better job of dying. That’s when I got the bright idea to jump off a bridge. Then Tony took me in, like my own personal savior. He gave me something worth living for: a home, and a family. A place where I knew that there was always going to be people who care about me.”

The lawyer looked a little shocked at that confession. “So you’re saying that your birth parents abused you, which led to you being taken in by Stark?”

Ava shrugged. “When there was no one else in the entire world who cared, Tony did.” She took a deep breath, and shot Tony an apologetic glance before she continued on. “Besides, Stan and Margie Bench are not my birth parents. Tony Stark is my biological father.”

There was a sudden uproar from the audience, and the judge had to bang his gavel several times to get them to quiet down a little bit. The lawyer, clearly taken aback, had to clear her throat a few times before continuing on with her questioning. “What makes you say that?”

Ava reached into her pocket slowly. “A journal my mother left behind. She wrote that I was a… test tube baby, made partly by Tony Stark’s DNA. When she got very pissed off by Stark, she decided that she would punish him by taking me away. I guess she didn’t take into consideration how much work goes into actually raising a child.” She pulled out the pages that she had torn from the diary, and handed them to the attorney. “Here’s the pages. And if you want to conduct a DNA test, I’m more than willing to provide a sample.”

Tony stared up at the witness stand in shock. He felt like his entire world was just spinning around, even more so than usual. He peered over at Pepper, but she appeared to be as nonplussed as he was. She looked at him curiously. “Is she just pulling all of this out of her ass?”

Tony shrugged. “I literally have no idea.” He looked up when he realized that the judge had been talking to him. “Mr Stark, are you willing to undergo a DNA test?”

Tony’s lawyer shook his head. “If this almost believable story turns out to be true, then they’ll be able to pin you with a motive. Birth parents often are found guilty of kidnapping their own children.”

Pepper made a noise of disagreement. “If Ava really is somehow Tony’s kid, then that means the Bench’s kidnapped her in the first place, so all Tony did is guide her back to her rightful home.”

Tony frowned thoughtfully. “How long do you think Ava’s been sitting on this little nugget of information?”

Pepper shrugged. “Well, if those pages really are from the journal, then she’s probably known ever since the two of you recovered that little book.”

Tony sighed. “What do you think I should do?”

Pepper shrugged again. “This is really a decision that you need to make, Tony.”

The judge cleared his throat impatiently. “Any time now, Mr Stark.”

Tony nodded. “Alright. Do the test. What the hell.”


	48. Chapter 48

Tony paced back and forth. The call with the DNA results should be coming through any minute now. Along with the court test, Tony was having Stark Labs run one of their own, just to make extra certain that the results were correct. But Tony was impatient in waiting for said results. 

Pepper grabbed Tony’s arm, and pulled him down on the couch so he was sitting next to her. He looked at the CEO carefully. “Do you really think it’s possible that I’m biologically her father? How would that have even happened? I mean, if it was a result of an unexpected pregnancy, of me being sloppy and not careful, then I could understand. But how does one unknowingly donate half the DNA necessary to make a test tube baby?”

Pepper shook her head. “If it’s true, then I’m not sure I really want to know, Tony.”

Tony sighed. “Why would Ava have ripped those pages out? Why wouldn’t she want me to know if I’m her real father? Was she disappointed to learn that?”

Pepper quickly shook her head, and grabbed Tony’s hands. “Honey, I’m sure that that’s not it. Maybe she was scared? Scared that if you knew you were her father, you’d think that it was all too much, and you’d suddenly kick her out?”

Tony scoffed. “Come on, Pep. Give me some credit here. I would never do something like that.”

The redhead hesitated. “Well, to be fair, you have made some poor decisions under the influence of being shown your responsibilities before, so it’s really not so unreasonable to think that this would just be yet another situation that you try to resolve with some money. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings or insult you, Tony. I’m just trying to think of a reason Ava would have to keep something like that from us.”

Tony got up and walked over to the mirror that was hanging in the bathroom. He peered at his brown eyes with a slight frown. “Well, she certainly didn’t get my eyes.” He paced back out of the bathroom. 

Jarvis broke the silence a few minutes later. “Sir? Mark West is calling from Stark Industries.”

Tony walked over to the tv, and subconsciously straightened his tie and smoothed back his hair. “I’ll take it down here.” The screen turned on, and a moment later, Tony was looking at one of the men who had actually managed to impress him several times before. “Well?”

Mr West raised one eyebrow. “Congratulations, it’s a girl.”

Tony sank down onto the couch, while Pepper felt the need to stand up, and move behind the couch. Tony cleared his throat. “How is this possible? I never gave anything to anyone to go making test tube babies with.”

The scientist didn’t look fazed by Tony’s grouchy demeanor. He was confident that he wasn’t getting fired any time soon, after all of the contributions he’d made to the tech produced by the company. “Well, we’ve been thoroughly analyzing the pages that Ms Ava’s lawyer gave us. They passed the dating test, so they’re definitely from fifteen to twenty years old. And I don’t know if you got a chance to read them-”

Tony scowled. “For some reason, no one will give me so much as a little crappy copy.”

“Well, they describe an entire lab division of Stark Industries that none of us had any idea existed. It pre-dates Miss Potts’ reign as CEO, and probably even yours. It was run and funded by Obadiah Stane. The journal doesn’t specify exactly how, but it does say that your DNA was obtained, and used to create Mr Stane’s version of the first cyborg.”

Tony frowned. He wouldn’t exactly call Ava a _cyborg_ of all things, but he had seen inside her head, and he’d seen the literal tangle of wires that she had up there. Honestly, it was amazing that she hadn’t snapped sooner when she had never received the proper care from the people who’d taken on the responsibility of being her parents from the moment they first stole her away. That was another thing that bothered Tony. “Did the notes… Did they mention why the Bench’s stole her?”

Mr West nodded. “Yes. Those idiots felt like they had some pretty decent ideas, Stane didn’t want to hear them, so they took his prize project.”

Tony clenched his hands into fists. “Are you kidding me? Not only do I have a kid, an actual, literal kid, who shares my DNA, but the only reason she was kidnapped in the first place was because there were a couple of idiots who were too stupid to realize that their ideas sucked?”

Pepper, who was standing behind Tony, reached forward to rub his shoulders comfortingly. “Tony, you do know that even if Ava hadn’t been taken by Margie and Stan Bench, Obadiah would have probably raised her himself. Maybe he would have said she was his kid, and if he was planning on her being a secret weapon, then he would have treated her well. She would have had no reason to dislike him, and you’d both go your whole lives never knowing the truth.”

Tony frowned. “Why ‘Ava’? I mean, if they really care so little for her, how did they pick her a name that seems to fit her so well?”

Mark cleared his throat, reminding the couple that he was still patched in. “Well, according the entries, the project was known as Project Avalon.”

“Pretentious little prick,” Tony grumbled under his breath. He sighed. “So Ava’s really my daughter. I have a daughter, and it’s Ava.” He glanced at the scientist with some hesitation. “Is there any way to know who the mother is?”

Mr West shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We would need a sample of DNA to match with Ava’s, but we don’t have any.”

Tony sighed. “Thanks, Mark. Don’t be surprised if you have a promotion coming your way sometime soon.” He ended the call and turned to Pepper. “I have a daughter.” He suddenly stood up. “I have a daughter with superpowers!”

Pepper smiled softly. “Tony, even if your DNA didn’t match, I still don’t think she’d be averse to calling herself your daughter.” She shook her head. “Now all we have to do is bring her home.”

Tony nodded. “Right. Bringing Ava home is the priority right now. And then once we get her home, we’ll find a way to disconnect her from Obadiah so he can’t monitor her at all times. Then everything will be perfect, right?”

Pepper actually laughed at that. “Are you forgetting who you’re talking about? Ava Bench. Well, I’m assuming that once you gain custody, you’ll change it to Stark. But either way, she’s just as stubborn as you, and now we even know why. She’s going to want to work with the Avengers, you know. She’s not just going to let her gift go to waste.”

Tony nodded. “That’s true. I suppose that one DNA test isn’t going to automatically make her be willing to listen to me. But hopefully it’ll be a start. And if not, then we’ll find a way to work things out. She’s going to come home, and then we’ll find a way to work things out.”

Pepper smiled. “Well then, let’s get to work. We wouldn’t want our daughter to be stuck in the system for any longer than necessary.”

Tony pulled Pepper into a kiss. “You’re the most wonderful woman in the whole world. What did I ever do to deserve you?”

Pepper shrugged. “I suppose that you’ll just have to be thankful for your blessings.” She turned to leave the room. “Now leave me alone while I do boring paperwork. You’re probably allergic to that stuff anyways.”

Tony grinned. “You’re right, I probably am. I’ll just head downstairs to tinker while you do all of that disgusting paperwork.”

Pepper nodded. “Sure thing, Tony. Sure thing.”


	49. Chapter 49

Ava sat rigidly on the wooden bench. She was sitting in the front row, but it was still too close to the rest of the audience for her taste. But since it was the state who was attacking Tony, and not Ava herself, she had no business on the other side of that little gate. Well, except for when she’d been called up to the stand as a witness of course, but that was a whole 'nother situation.

The judge walked into the room, and the bailiff told everyone to “Rise for the honorable Judge Picknik. The court is now in session.” Ava stood up with everyone else, including Becca, who was still in charge of Ava’s welfare until further notice. Hopefully that notice would arrive today in the form of being put back into Tony’s custody.

The judge sighed. “I have taken into great consideration all of the facts of this case. The Bench family is reported missing, and the minor, Avalon Bench, was found in the care of one Anthony Stark. I have heard from several witnesses, including the minor herself, who all say that her stay at Stark Tower was completely consensual. There is also evidence in the form of journal pages stating that the Benches indeed kidnapped Avalon as a baby, along with scientific proof that Tony Stark is the biological father of Ava Bench. Keeping all of that in mind, I believe I’ve reached my decision, however, I have to ask something of Avalon.” Ava glanced at Becca, and her caretaker motioned for her to stand up, so she did.

Ava cleared her throat. “Uh, sure thing, judge. What did you want to know?”

The judge smiled gently. “What do you wish to be the outcome of all of this?”

Ava sighed. “I just want everything to go back to normal. I mean, I just want to go home. To Stark Tower.”

The judge nodded. “Then on the counts of kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment, I declare the defendant, Anthony Stark, not guilty on both charges. I also declare that the minor, Avalon Bench, may return to the custody of Mr Stark, though the proper change of guardianship forms need to be filled out,”

Tony raised one eyebrow. “Wait, so do I have to actually adopt her?”

The judge looked annoyed with Tony. “I wasn’t finished talking yet. The proper change of guardianship forms need to be filled out for Mr Stark to officially be considered the paternal parent of Avalon, and the only ones who need to be able to show proper adoption papers are Margie and Stan Bench, when they are located. Case dismissed.”

The media seemed like they were everywhere, with everyone itching to be the first to report the story, complete with quotes from those who were most directly involved in the trial. Because of that, there was only one news crew that caught the heartwarming scene of Ava jumping over the gate, and into Tony’s arms. The two hugged for a long moment, and then Pepper wrapped her arms around them as well, making it a group hug.

The reporter smiled to herself at the sight. It was for things like this that she had ever gone into photojournalism, and she was glad of the reminder provided by the touching family reunion that she was witnessing.

Ava pulled back from Tony and Pepper after what felt like forever. “Hey you guys, I think that we should all go out for ice cream.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “And maybe a stiff drink or two.” At Ava’s raised eyebrows, he sighed. “Fine, just plain old ice cream. But trust me, you’ll be regretting that decision in a few minutes, when you realize how terribly you screwed up, actually asking to be put back into my custody.”

Ava shook her head. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t really mean it.” She shrugged. “Besides, who else has a house with such a perfect space for flying built right in?” She lowered her voice a bit. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the journal pages. It’s not that I didn’t think you deserved to know, it’s just that I didn’t want you to have to feel like you were obligated to take care of me if you didn’t want to, and I thought that-”

Tony cut off the teen by pulling her into another tight hug. He spoke in his best stern voice, though he didn’t seem entirely bothered when Ava only giggled in response. “Well, don’t you ever do that again, young lady. If you ever find out that I’m your dad ever again, and you don’t tell me, then you’re going to be grounded for a billion years.”

Ava grinned. “Do you really think that you could put up with me for that long without being driven absolutely insane? Because make no mistake, Mr Stark, you being my father does not change too much. I’m not going to go any easier on you, and I’m going to continue to hold it over your head whenever you get anything wrong. About anything.”

Tony chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. But hey, at least on the plus side, we all know where you got that horribly nasty stubborn streak from. I’d never met a woman more stubborn than Pepper until I met you.”

Ava peered over Tony’s shoulder to roll her eyes at Pepper, who returned the sentiment wholeheartedly. Pepper cleared her throat. “Tony, we really should be heading back home like now. As soon as people hear that you’ve got a daughter, and heir to your empire, they’re going to be lining up on the streets to get a good look at her.”

Ava nodded, and grabbed one hand from each of the adults. “Come on, let’s go.” As they turned to leave the room, which was now almost completely empty since the media had been forced out into the hallway, Ava spotted Becca. She let go of Tony and Pepper for a moment to run over to the woman who’d watched over her for the past couple of weeks. Ava grinned up at the woman. “Thanks for taking care of me, even though I’m such a horrible nuisance.”

Becca laughed. “You would not be calling yourself a nuisance if you’d ever seen any of the other kids that I’ve watched over due to one circumstance or another. It all worked out, though, didn’t it, Ava? It’s like I said, they would never put you where you don’t want to go. So you got what you wanted, right?” Ava suddenly felt shivers run up her spine. “That means you get to go back home to Tony and all of the Avengers. Aren’t you so happy for that?”

Ava had to force herself not to frown, since that would be rude. “Yeah, sure. Well, see you around, Ms Anderson.” She grabbed Tony and Pepper, and pulled them out of the courtroom as quickly as possible.

The social worker continued to stand there, even after the strange little family had left. She smiled to herself, and raised her phone to her ear. “Everything is as it should be.”

The voice on the other end sighed happily. “Good. I’m glad that everything’s worked out properly. It would suck if I lost all of my progress, after all of that hard work, simply because of the justice system. You did well, Becca. You should be proud.”

The woman nodded. “Oh don’t worry, I’m very proud, alright. She didn’t suspect a single thing.”


	50. Chapter 50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to just bring all of my stories up to date so that when I get reader input it doesn't come too late haha
> 
> I realized that everyone’s been through a ton of shit, and they need a chance to just sit back and relax, so here’s just a bit of time for the nerds to hang out, just to give these poor people a break from all of the drama, but don’t worry, their story is not over yet.

Ava stood near the edge of the balcony, and looked down over the city. From so high up, she felt like she could see practically the whole world. She leaned forward just a drop more, simply because she could, and she knew that even if she did fall, she’d be able to save herself, which was a rather pleasant feeling to have. 

She heard the door behind her slide open, but she didn’t turn around, because she was still too busy taking in the sight of the twinkling yellow lights in all of the buildings around them. New York was a great place, so it was too bad that it was always where aliens attacked. Ava couldn’t help hoping that everyone would stop trying to destroy her city for once.

There was the sound of a throat being cleared, and then Ava felt the warmth of someone else’s elbow brushing hers. She smiled a bit, but because they were both facing away from the tower and all of it’s lights, Ava knew that he wouldn’t be able to see the contented look on her face. 

Tony sighed. “Nice night, isn’t it?”

Ava nodded. “They’re all nice nights when they can be seen from up here.” Her face had a serenity about it that wasn’t often seen there. “It’s so peaceful from up here. You can’t hear all the normal grumbling that the city makes.”

Tony laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, but the silence wasn’t at all awkward. Then Tony took a deep breath, obviously gearing up to say something difficult. “You know, you’re pretty old now. Seventeen. You’re less than a year away from being eighteen.” Ava peered up at Tony, but he was still looking out at the city rather than at her. “And usually when kids turn eighteen, that’s when they find that it’s time to, uh, leave the nest, I guess. You know, going off to college, living on their own. It’s a time for them to begin to really learn what it’s like to be an adult, you know?” He sighed again, and his words came out a little quicker. “You’re obviously a really smart kid with a strong grasp on technology, and you know how to survive on your own. You could get into any school that you want to, and I will fully support your decision. Someday, you could even take over this company, but only if you want to,” he quickly added. 

Before Tony could keep talking, Ava cut him off with a soft voice. “Even if eighteen is less than a year away, it still feels like forever from now. Though that could just be because I happened to miss my birthday, it feels like it never even happened. But maybe we could hold off on talking about college and stuff? I don’t think I’m really ready for any of that. I still feel more like a little kid than someone who’s almost an adult, you know?” As if an afterthought, she added, “But I do appreciate that you’d support me. It really does mean a lot to me.”

Tony smiled to himself. “Yeah, sure. Anytime you’re ready to talk - about anything, it doesn’t have to be college -, you can just come to me, and I’ll be ready to talk to you. And I really will support you in anything that you want to do.”

Ava peered up at Tony again, but he was still looking out at the skyline rather than at her. She turned away and followed suit. “Just… don’t start thinking that you have to do a whole bunch of stuff for me to make up for lost time, or whatever. You’ve already given me more than I could have ever hoped to have. You gave me a family.” Her voice cracked on that last word, like it was one that she hadn’t used very often before, but neither of them pointed that out. 

Tony leaned forward against the railing. “You know, you’ve given me a lot too. Like these goddamn feelings. I mean, who does that? Just comes into somebody’s home and ends up in their heart too?” He chuckled. “Eh, just ignore me whenever I start sporting emotional crap. It can usually be cured by a drink,” he quickly looked at Ava, then looked away. “But that’s not what I’m really in the mood for tonight.”

There was silence again, but there was an obvious weight in the air, as both father and daughter had something more to say. Ava couldn’t bring herself to come right out and say what she wanted to, though, so she improvised. “You know, I’ve done my bit of research on you and your family. Mostly your dad, Howard Stark.” She tried to keep her voice light and conversational. “He was a complete douchewad from what I could tell.” Her voice softened a bit, and lost the almost teasing edge. “I hope that you’re not afraid of becoming like him. You’ve been taking care of me long before either of us knew we were related, and that counts for a lot.”

Tony chuckled. “When did you get so wise? You are still a little kid most of the time, but occasionally you say something that makes you sound about a hundred years old.”

Ava scoffed. “Really? A hundred? If I wanted to sound old, I could probably get myself to sound at least three or four hundred.”

Tony arched one eyebrow. “But nobody is alive to explain what someone sounds like when they’re three or four hundred, so how would you know if you’re doing it right?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “God, you’re completely ridiculous. How have you ever managed to run a multi-million dollar corporation with that kind of attitude?”

Tony tried to sound offended when he responded. “Hey, that really hurts. I’ll have you know, young lady, that I managed to run a multi-billion dollar corporation with that kind of attitude. Probably because most of the rich ladies were just eating out of my hand.”

Ava playfully smacked Tony in the shoulder. “That’s nasty! I hope you don’t say things like that to Virginia,” she paused, the hesitation in her voice clear. “To Pepper, I mean.” She glanced up at Tony, like she was checking to see if it was okay to call the CEO by what had become her real name over the years from being used so often by everybody.

Tony gave a slight nod. “Honestly, at this point you should be feeling comfortable enough to call me and Pepper all kinds of things that should never be said of one’s… parents.”

Ava smiled, and looked out at the peaceful nighttime sky. The buildings were softly glowing beacons in the dark that looked like the constellations that were clearly visible from this high up. “I could have just come back here for all of your money. You should be more careful.”

Tony shrugged. “The Bench’s had almost as much money as I do. And besides, you’re my… daughter. I would happily give you all the money that you need. Though I would strongly encourage you to not just squabble it all away.” 

Ava scooted over the extra inch so her and Tony were standing hip to hip. “Thanks, To-” She took a deep breath, and spoke the next words like she was trying them out for the first time. “Thanks, Dad.”

Tony stiffened immediately, and Ava moved to scoot away, and probably go back inside, but Tony grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug. “You’re a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

Ava smiled into his shoulder. “I- I love you, too.” Then they separated, and both stared over the balcony at their beautiful city.


	51. Chapter 51

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like this is the beginning of when I finally started writing longer chapters, all the way back in March of 2016 haha

Ava stared up at her ceiling, her brain whirring away faster than normally necessary. She felt like everything should be over, and all of the drama that everyone had been through was worth the happy ending. It wasn’t until she woke up this morning that she remembered that there wasn’t time for a happy ending yet because her every move was still being carefully watched by that sick son-of-a-bitch, Obadiah Stane.

She let out a heavy sigh, and continued to stare up at the ceiling. There had to be something that she could do, right? Ava suddenly sat up. The reason that Obadiah was monitoring her was because he wanted to know everything that Tony was doing with the Avengers, and probably just with Stark Industries in general. That meant that it would be dangerous to stay around Tony, at least until she knew that Obadiah wasn’t listening in on her anymore.

So the only way to make it safe for Tony again would be for Obadiah to be stopped. Without letting him know that that’s what she was trying to do. Well, that wouldn’t be too difficult, right?

Thought Ava did feel bad at the thought of running away, after she’d finally been reunited with her real family again. It would probably hurt Tony’s feelings if she just left out of the blue (again), but there was no way to let him know where she was going. Or maybe she didn’t have to…?

Ava got up, and went downstairs to the kitchen, and she was greeted by the sight of Tony dancing around the kitchen island while holding a spatula up to his mouth and using it like a microphone as he jammed out to whatever rock song he’d found on the radio. Pepper was sitting at the island, scrolling through something on her Stark Pad. 

Pepper glanced up when she heard the soft footsteps. She smiled warmly. “Good morning, Ava.”

“Hey Vir- Pepper.” She nodded, looking more certain. “Good morning, Pepper.”

Tony threw the spatula down onto the counter, then picked up the frying pan from the counter. He tilted it and split the contents equally over three plates. A moment later, the toaster dinged, and Tony pulled out two pieces of normal looking toast, and one that was so well done it was practically black.

He served the plates with normal toast to Pepper, and the empty seat next to Pepper. Then he slid the plate with burnt toast over to the empty seat closest to where Ava was standing. Ava sat down, and smiled. “Thanks. But I thought you said you couldn’t stand the smell of burnt toast?”

Tony shrugged. “What can I say? This felt like a special occasion.”

Ava rolled her eyes, but she began eating the food. Tony wasn’t often in the mood to actually cook anything, but when he was, it usually came out pretty decent. And it was nice to have a home cooked meal for once. And like Tony said, it was a special occasion, since they had finally realized that they were a family.

After a few minutes of quick eating, Pepper stood up, and stepped into her shoes, which had been sitting on the floor next to her chair. She gave Tony a kiss on the cheek, and ruffled Ava’s hair as she walked past her to get to the main hallway. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Then she left, already pulled out her phone to answer a call about some emergency or another.

Tony sat down, and looked at Ava carefully. “So how are you?”

Ava shrugged. “I’m fine. How’s Frederick?”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows, then put his hands on his hips. “Really? After everything that’s happened, your first priority is that mail-order goat? When they say that parenthood isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, this must be exactly what they mean,” a pout took over his face.

Ava rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a child. Maybe I haven’t asked the right question yet. Where is he?”

Tony sighed, and looked down at the table, and mumbled to himself. Ava scooted her seat a bit closer, worry showing itself clearly through her features. Tony let out a deep breath. He didn’t want Ava to think that her stupid pet had died, or anything like that. “I sent him away to a kennel. Don’t worry, I can get him back at a moment’s notice. Though if I’m being honest here, I was hoping that if I didn’t mention it, you would just forget about him.”

The teen laughed. “How could I forget about my precious Frederick?”

Tony shrugged. “How could you forget about those precious shoes he ate?”

“Which pair?”

Tony stood up. “You are impossible. That goat is also impossible. I suppose that’s why you two get along so well though, right?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket to call the kennel. 

Before the dialing could finish, Ava’s arm shot up, and she pulled Tony’s hand away from his ear. “Wait, maybe it’s not such a good idea to bring him back. Not yet, anyways. He deserves a good home, and a more stable owner. I don’t want him to get hurt because of my problems.”

Tony gave Ava a funny look, but he obliged by hanging up, and putting his phone back into his pocket. “So you just went from concerned about his well-being to wanting to leave him in a kennel that’s probably entirely populated by dogs?” He narrowed his eyes. “How exactly is a goat going to be hurt in the grand scheme of things?”

Ava shrugged. “Anything you care about is something that could be used against you,” she chuckled, trying to lighten the mood back to the point it had been at just a few minutes ago. But it was too late, the tone had shifted. Tony looked at Ava with suspicious eyes, and Ava looked at him pleadingly. She didn’t want him to say any more on the matter.

Finally, Tony looked away, and he knew that Ava was probably the only person in the world he was unable to out-stare. Tony took a couple of steps back. “Don’t expect me to give in so easily in the future, okay? This is only an I-just-officially-got-custody-of-you- as-your-father kind of thing.” Ava nodded, a grin trying to play across her lips. Tony shook his finger at her. “I mean it!” Then he let out a loud groan of frustration, and this time, spoke in a much weaker voice. “Don’t forget to clean your dishes?”

Ava smiled. “Sure. Consider them cleaned.” Tony nodded, looking like he was trying to reassure himself that he was, in fact, the person in charge in this house. Tower. Place. Then he turned and walked away.

Ava cleaned the dishes as slowly as she thought she could get away with. Then she glanced up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, has Tony left yet?”

There was a pause, and then the prim British voice replied, “Mr Stark has left the premises three point five minutes ago. May I ask why you made that inquiry?”

Ava shook her head, then remembered that she didn’t know for sure whether or not Jarvis could see the motion. “Uh, no, that’s probably not a good idea.” She hurried out of the kitchen, but hesitated in the doorway, even though the bodiless servant would have been able to hear her from any room in the building. “Jarvis? Can you just… not inform Tony that I’m gone until tomorrow morning?”

There was no response, so Ava shrugged. The disembodied man heard her whether not he felt like responding. Ava quickly flew back up to her floor, and ran into her room. She pulled her backpack out from under her bed, and stuffed as many clothes in there as could fit. She had no idea how long it would take to track down Obadiah and shut down his creepy surveillance over her.

Ava slung her backpack over her shoulder, then realized that it was a waste to fill it with clothes, when she could always make holographic clothing. She dumped out the entire contents of her bag, grabbed her toothbrush from the bathroom connected to her bedroom, then left her room.

She jumped over the balcony, floating safely to the first floor, then dashed back into the kitchen. Tony could buy plenty more food later if he needed to. Ava filled her bag with non perishable food items, then ran for the front door. She couldn’t think of anything she’d need money for, since she could just make a holographic credit card or something, and on that note, Ava probably didn’t even need the bag of food, which would potentially slow her down.

Ava slipped the backpack off of her shoulders, and let it land on the floor with a thump. That would probably be seen as suspicious. She brought it back into the kitchen, and shoved it into a side cabinet that was completely empty (though Ava remembered that it used to hold many bottles of alcohol).

Then Ava finally went for the front door again. She turned the knob, but it wouldn’t budge, and she narrowed her eyes. “Jarvis, why did you lock the door?”

“Mr Stark requested that I initiate lock down mode if you showed any of the precursors that are often attributed to teens who are planning on running away.”

Ava clenched her teeth. “Really? He doesn’t trust me after everything that we’ve been through?”

Jarvis spoke slowly. “I believe that this is Mr Stark’s way of trying to keep you safe, even when he cannot be watching over you. I believe that Mr Stark does not wish to see you get seriously hurt again.”

The teen rolled her eyes. “I do not have time for this.” She pressed her eyes closed, and took a deep breath. “Tell Tony I’m sorry, and I love him.” Then she reached forward and pressed her hand against the door. “I’m really sorry, Jarvis. If you were a person, this would be the equivalent of me hitting you over the head to knock you out.” As she spoke, and Jarvis attempted to figure out what she was up to, little holographic wires snaked out of Ava’s hand, and went into the space between walls.

The wires twirled around all of the electrical connections, then let out an extremely strong surge of power. It was too much, and the entire household blacked out. Ava had fifteen seconds tops before the whole system was rebooted. Apologizing again, she stepped outside, and ran as fast as she could, and it felt nice. Running like there was nothing wrong, and it was just her and the wind in her hair, and the tar beneath her feet.

But this was also inefficient when Ava had a much more interesting form of travel. She shot up into the air, going high enough that pedestrians wouldn’t be able to spot her. She breathed in the fresh air, and let out a small laugh at the feeling of rushing through the sky. 

She immediately sobered up, however, when it occurred to her to remember the reason she was up in the air. She was running away. And she could claim that it was for Tony’s and the other Avengers’ safety, and it partially was, but truthfully, she was running away because she was scared, and that wasn’t fair to Tony.

Ava had spent her entire life being told that she was worthless and didn’t deserve happiness, or being completely ignored by the people who she’d thought were obligated to love her. And now Ava was being surrounded with more love than she was equipped to handle. So yes, her intentions might technically be noble, but underneath that, below the ‘heroic’ outer layer, there was just a scared girl.

Once Ava was out of the city, she decided that it would be best to return to the ground if she didn’t want to be caught on any satellite images. By now, Tony had to know she was gone, since Jarvis probably made the alert as soon as he finished rebooting, and then checked every room in the tower. 

Ava picked an empty field, carefully making sure that there was no one else around, and then she dropped to the ground, only pulling her wings back out a couple of feet above the grass, then dropped down again. That was the quickest way to get back down, and it felt fun, like a roller coaster ride or something. Ava tilted her head at that thought, though, because she couldn’t recall a time where she’d ever actually been on a roller coaster.

That was one more thing she’d have to talk to her parents- to the Bench’s about. Because once Ava found Obadiah and shut down his programs, she’ll have also found Margie and Stan. The people who had kidnapped her. Not that Ava’s life would have been insured as better if she hadn’t been taken, of course. She’d have been raised by Obadiah, who seemed just a tad off his rocker. But he obviously hadn’t been so crazy back in the day, or someone would have noticed long before he paid to have Tony murdered.

But Obadiah probably would have at least pretended to care about her, so she’d be motivated to act as his secret weapon, which was more than Ava’s parents had felt bothered to do. And since Obadiah would have to let the world know he had a kid, since a human being was an awfully difficult thing to hide, Ava could have met Tony a lot sooner, and perhaps under better circumstances than she had.

As Ava walked across the field, she wrapped her arms around her stomach, almost like she was giving herself a hug. Her life was crazy. If she ever tried to write a book about it, it would probably be sold as fiction. When she was about halfway across the field, Ava just plopped down.

She pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. Then she buried her face in her knees. She didn’t cry, she just sat there and let her shoulders shake. Ava was so tired and scared, but she had to keep moving. And she would, because the teen hadn’t just given up yet. It would just have to wait a minute. Because for just a minute, Ava was going to allow herself to sit there and try not to think about everything that was going on.

When a minute passed, Ava told herself that she was definitely going to get up after another minute. Just one more minute of sitting there. But that minute also passed quickly, and Ava kept promising herself that she’d stand after just one more minute until the sun went down.


	52. Chapter 52

When Ava opened her eyes, she was only relaxed for a moment before she darted to her feet, realizing that she was just lying out in the middle of an open field, which left her very vulnerable. She felt stupid for not forcing herself to keep moving the night before, but on the other hand, she really had needed that rest. 

Though Ava knew that there’s no way Tony would’ve slept last night. He would’ve just been out searching for her. Which meant that Ava needed to keep moving, and hope that Tony was looking in all the wrong places for her. It’s not like he knew her that well, right?

Then again, it was entirely possible that he’d be able to figure out what she was up to. And Obadiah too, for that matter. It would probably be easier for Obadiah, since he could just tune in to anything Ava was seeing or hearing. But at least he had no way of reading her thoughts, so there was still a microscopic amount of privacy provided to her.

And Tony could track her down pretty easily if she went anywhere with a lot of traffic cameras or other recording devices. Ava’s stomach was twisting in knots at the thought that she was now running from one of the few people who actually cared about her. She was running from her father. There was a different sort of nervousness that came with that thought. Tony was her dad. And he would be scared and hurt that she’d just left without saying a word. But there was no way she could’ve left a note that would’ve appeased Tony while simultaneously not giving anything away to Obadiah. Stupid Obadiah.

If it weren’t for that bald douche bag, Ava would be free to just live with her dad. And her goat. And Pepper. And Jarvis. They were certainly a weird combination. And most of the time it seemed like they were a bunch of pieces from different puzzles. But the best part was despite the fact that they didn’t all just fit smoothly together, they all still cared about each other. Well, Frederick didn’t seem to care much about Tony, but other than that. 

Ava moved quickly, not wanting to stick around in this field for any longer than she already had. After a while, she realized that she was trodding right over a whole bunch of pretty wildflowers that were probably home and food for a lot of insects. She winced at her assholery, but knew that there was no way she’d be able to get away with flying when Tony could be flying around anywhere.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Ava emerged from the field, and saw a dirt road. She wasn’t sure quite where it led to, and she didn’t have her phone on her to check. Then she remembered that she didn’t need a phone to check. She was holding a light green map in her hands a moment later, and she used it to figure out where she was.

She was out of the city for sure. That initial burst of flying had been specifically so that she’d be able to get out of the city as soon as possible. Now, it seemed that she was closest to a small town known as Barneveld. It didn’t matter what the town was called, or that the town had less than three hundred residents. All that mattered is that it was far away from the city, and the people that Ava cared about, and that it would be easy enough for Obadiah to find once he realized where she was.

Ava wished that she could call Tony, even if it was just to tell him that she’d suddenly decided he wasn’t good enough. Because that was probably the first conclusion that he was going to jump to. Then Ava got a strange idea. She was holding a holographic cell phone immediately. The only question was whether or not she’d actually be able to make any calls on it. 

She dialed Tony’s landline, which was basically just a direct line to Jarvis in the tower rather than Jarvis in the suit or the car. She couldn’t help the joy she felt at the thought that it was actually ringing. A moment later, a posh British voice answered her call. “Ms Bench, I do hope you are calling to inform us of your location so that Sir can find you.”

Ava blinked. “First of all- how did you know it was me?”

“Rather than a number appearing, as would usually be the case when people call, all that came up was your name. Whose phone are you calling from?”

Ava laughed. “I can hardly believe it! And I’m calling from my phone. I’m not sure if it’s traceable or not, but I know that if it is, you’ve already been tracing it since you first answered, so I’m just going to move on. Okay, so I know that you’re old a little outdated now, Jarvis, but even you should know by now that Tony’s officially my dad. Like biologically and legally. So if you’re going to talk to me, call me Ava or Ms Stark.” She sounded almost giddy as she proclaimed that. “I actually really like the sound of that. Ava Stark. Anyways, don’t connect me to Tony. Just make sure you play him the recording of this call. Don’t even pretend like you don’t record everything. Tony, I want you to know that I’m not trying to abandon you. I really do care about you, and I really do care about the family that I’ve found in you. Which is exactly why I’ve got to do this. Until this business with Obadiah ends, we’ll never be able to live in peace. Just know that I… I do love you. Maybe not as much as Frederick, but you are pretty high up there. Just don’t look for me. I’m going to protect you Ton- er, Dad. I’m going to fix everything.” Then the phone was gone, which presumably meant that it was hung up on the other end as well.

Ava made her way into the town, and saw that it was just as quaint as she should have expected. Then she clenched her hands into fists. Hopefully, no confrontation with the bald loser would actually take place here. These people were innocent and didn’t deserve to suffer just because Ava wanted to end a really shitty situation.

She growled softly, and then spoke loudly enough that she was sure Obadiah would be able to hear it if he was listening at the moment. “I’m gone now, Obie. You wanted me to be your spy on the Avengers, but I doubt you’re going to get much in the way of information from Barneveld, of all places. So you can just take all this shit out of my head right now. If you don’t, then you’ll just be seeing what daily life in a really small town looks like. For the rest of ever. And don’t think that I’m bluffing. I’m willing to do anything for my family. Your move, Stane.” Then she began strolling down the dirt road that would bring her to the town.

Ava arrived at Barneveld about three hours later. The road had been a lot longer than she’d been expecting, and there hadn’t been any in between. Apparently everything was packed into New York City so that the rest of New York could be as spread out as possible. She wasn’t tired, though. She was still in very good physical shape.

The first thing she did was seek out a hotel. There was a small one, but as long as it had a vacancy, she didn’t really care about how small and cheap it was. She walked inside, brushing back her hair, and hoping that her face wasn’t red and sweaty. She cleared her throat, and then smiled politely at the woman standing behind the front desk. “Hi. I need a room for one please?”

The woman raised one eyebrow. “I’ll need to see some identification. We can only help you if you’re eighteen or older.”

Ava reached down, and pulled a holographic wallet out of her pocket. Then she flipped it open, and pulled out a holographic ID that only boosted Ava’s age by two years. The woman nodded with satisfaction, and Ava handed over the money for a room. The money was real, of course, since there’d be no way for her to part with it if it were just another one of her holograms. And credit cards were useless because Tony would be able to trace those things in an instant.

The woman handed Ava a key, and this time her smile was friendly. “I hope you enjoy your stay here. I know that we don’t have the most exciting little town, but I’m sure that you’ll find plenty of entertainment around here.” 

Ava kept up with her polite smile. “Thanks, but I’m here on business.” Then she went to the room with the same number as the key she’d been handed. She pretended to ignore the curious look on the woman’s face. They probably didn’t get many visitors around here. 

Once she was in the room, which was actually cozy rather than sleazy, she flopped down onto the bed and groaned. This was crazy. Ava could still clearly picture a time where she could barely leave her bedroom without her legs shaking, and now here she was. Many adventures and injuries and emotions later, a much braver person. Though Ava wasn’t sure if she was sadder or not. She’d obviously been rather depressed before, because she’d had no one who cared about her and no one who she cared very much for. Now she had an entire family that loved her and she loved back, but she had to stay away from them. It was almost worse, to lose that when she’d just been able to learn what family really means.

But then Ava shook her head with determination. Of course she knew what family meant. That’s why she had to do everything in her power to keep her family safe. She’d dragged them into all of her shit when she, quite literally, fell into Tony Stark’s life. Now it was up to her to make things right. And if Tony didn’t want her back once all of this was over and he realized just how much trouble Ava was, then that was just fine, because at least it would mean that Ava had successfully kept him safe.

The girl almost laughed. No matter how different she’d been since she jumped, deep down, she was still the same insecure girl from before. She probably always would be, too. The way she’d been raised wasn’t the kind of thing that could be reversed. Not this late into her life.

Regardless, she was going to face off against Obadiah. She was going to make sure that he could never spy on the Avengers again. And she’d even make sure to rescue the people who’d pretended to be her parents, just to prove that she really could be a superhero. 

Ava wasn’t some naive, innocent child who would let herself be pushed in front of a speeding car for no reason other than cowardice. Now she knew that she could be okay with dying, really okay, as long as she died doing something that mattered. Rescuing Margie and Stan, or fighting Obadiah, she was ready to do whatever it would take to succeed. Ava was tired of losing. 

After a short nap, Ava headed downstairs, and found her way to the little dining area. The woman who’d checked her in earlier smiled. “Hey. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Sarah. If you’d like, I can whip something up for you in the kitchen. Or there’s Russell’s down the street. My food can’t even begin to compare to his in quality, but it’s a lot cheaper.”

Ava smiled. “It’s nice that you’re so honest about it. I’m too lazy to go wandering around right now, and I’m sure that your food is going to be just fine. I’ll just have some coffee and whatever sandwich is easiest to whip up.”

Sarah nodded, and walked over to the kitchen door. Ava sank down in a seat at one of the empty tables. Which wasn’t hard, since there was only one other occupied table in the entire room. At first, Ava didn’t care, until she recognized her fellow diner. She got up, and sat down in the seat across from him, a look of disbelief on her face. “Stan? What the hell are you doing here?” 

The older man let out a long sigh. “Obadiah thought that you’d be more open to some sort of compromise if he showed you that you’re playing a game with higher stakes than you thought. There’s a bomb under that chair you’re sitting in. It was activated the moment you sat down, and it’ll explode as soon as you stand up, unless Obadiah chooses to disarm it first. Which he’ll only do if you agree to go back to the tower. And it’s a pretty big bomb. It’ll take down this entire building for sure. Just agree, okay?” 

Ava noted the fright on Stan’s face with satisfaction as she shifted in her seat. Then she crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to meet Obadiah. If he won’t meet with me, then he’s going to have to risk losing his biggest asset.” She noticed the ear piece in Stan’s ear. That must be how Obadiah was communicating, and Obadiah was able to know what was going on thanks to Ava.

Stan gulped. “He says that you’re not nearly as valuable as you think you are.”

“Oh don’t worry, I know I’m worthless,” Ava reassured him. “Afterall, that’s what you’ve been telling me my entire life. How could I possible think anything else?” She cleared her throat. “Doesn’t matter, though. I’m standing up in two minutes if Obadiah doesn’t agree to meet with me in person.”

After a pause, Stan began rambling on, and Ava just tuned him out. She scooted her chair closer to the table, scraping it loudly across the floor, which made Stan wince. Then she casually reached one hand under the chair and felt the bomb there. She let out the holographic green wires, and let them worm their way through the device. There was an almost completely silent click as the bomb was disarmed, and that sound was covered by the sound of Stan’s voice. She finally tuned back in, now that she knew that everyone else in the hotel was going to be safe. 

“-isn’t quite what we expected. So just take a week of vacation or something, and then go back to the tower. That should be enough, right?”

Ava shook her head carelessly. “Of course not. Nothing less than my complete freedom will ever be enough for me. So if you’ll excuse me, I think that I’m done with this conversation.” She pushed her chair back, and Stan began sweating. He took off the earpiece, and offered it to Ava. She grabbed it, and held it up to her ear. “Hey Obie. I know you heard me. So what’s it going to be?”

Obadiah scoffed. “You’re bluffing for sure.” 

Ava shrugged. “Okay,” and she slowly began to ease her weight off of the chair. “Can’t wait for your screens to be nothing but static and error signs.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Ava chuckled darkly. “It’s almost like you’re the last one to be let into the loop here. Wanna know how I came to meet the famous Tony Stark? I jumped to my death off of a bridge. I’m not bluffing, because I don’t care about what happens to me. And if you think that this piece of shit in front of me would be enough to sway my conscience, then you don’t know me at all.” She raised herself up just a bit more. “Goodbye Obadiah. I’ll see you in hell someday, and I won’t even stop to say ‘hi’.” 

There was the sound of Obadiah swearing. “Fine! Fine, we can meet!” A moment later, he let out a loud sigh. “The bomb’s been disarmed.”

Ava smiled. “Thanks, that’s all I was asking for. Oh, and Obie? If you try to get out of this meeting for any reason at all, then I won’t hesitate to fly up as high as I can possibly go, and then let myself fall. I’ll be seeing you here in Barneveld by Friday, or I’ll make sure you never see anything through my eyes again.” She handed the communication device back to Stan before she could hear her enemy’s response.

Then she walked over to the table she’d originally sat down at. She shook her head at the fact that she wasn’t sure whether she’d been bluffing or not. If that bomb had still been armed, would she have still started to stand up? No, because innocent people would be hurt. But she’d told Obadiah that she’d kill herself if he lied. And Ava honestly had no idea whether or not she would. To shake her out of her morbid thoughts, Sarah came out of the kitchen carrying a cup of coffee and plate with a sandwich on it, which she brought over to Ava. “Enjoy.”

Ava smiled warmly. “Thanks, I will.” And she bit into the sandwich as though this was just another day in her life.


	53. Chapter 53

Ava was leaning against the back wall of the hotel, her head tilted back, though she couldn’t see the sky through her closed eyes. She wasn’t sleeping, just relaxing. The peace she’d found was disrupted a moment later by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Ava lazily opened one eye to peer at the person standing in front of her. It was Stan. There was no point in asking how he knew where she’d be. Obadiah could’ve easily told him. “What do you want?”

Stan sighed. “Obadiah said to let you know that he’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”

Ava nodded. “Okay,” then she closed her eyes again, feeling like the conversation was over.

The older man sighed again. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Ava didn’t know how to respond to that, so she stayed silent. Stan barreled on. “I know, some apology doesn’t actually make anything right. And there’s a lot of things that I think you deserve an apology for. Margie and I took you away from a life you could’ve enjoyed because we were being selfish, and we were mad that things hadn’t gone exactly our way. It wasn’t until we had you that we realized we didn’t want anything to do with raising a child. We thought that maybe you’d have figured out how to survive on your own, because you’re special. We should’ve handed you off to an orphanage or something, but we didn’t think that we should get rid of so much technology.”

The teen scoffed. “Stop trying to make excuses. There were a million things you could’ve done differently to make you even a little bit less shitty than you were. You chose to not do anything. You didn’t even feed me, for god’s sake! And you’re not any better now. I should’ve just womaned up and left ages ago.” Ava straightened up. “Who needs you, anyways, when I’ve got Iron Man as my dad? Now fuck off.”

Stan stuttered and shifted awkwardly, and then he finally had to admit that he had no right to keep trying to hang out with Ava. She was absolutely right about everything. They should’ve just handed her off to an orphanage or something. Then they’d actually be heroes, having saved Ava from Obadiah, who only wanted to use her as a weapon. Ava could’ve had a good childhood. It was too late to change things now, though.

So the man turned and walked back around the hotel so that he could go inside, back to his room. Ava slumped forward as soon as Stan was out of sight. She’d needed to look strong in front of him, but truthfully, she felt like a wreck. Ava had no idea what she was doing. What could she possibly offer Obadiah that would make him accept leaving the rest of the Avengers alone? All she wanted was for him to remove his spying network from her head. But once he did that, she would be useless to him, so he wouldn’t care if she were dead. Which meant he wouldn’t have much motivation to cooperate.

Ava had until tomorrow afternoon to come up with a plan. Some sort of incentive that would motivate Obadiah to give her what she wanted. Unfortunately, the only thing Ava knew for sure that the greasy man wanted was her. Ava’s eyes widened as something occurred to her. An absolutely horrible plan. But perhaps her only chance to fix things.

***

Obadiah scoffed at the interior of Russell’s. It looked like absolute garbage. He looked down at his watch, and had to suppress an annoyed sigh. That insufferable girl was making him wait on purpose. Just this morning that Bench moron had specifically said that Obadiah would be in the trashy diner at one, and it was now one-thirty.

The bells over the door rang, and there was the sound of a single pair of soft footsteps practically dancing over to him. Then Ava plopped down in the seat across from him, and gulped, trying to look brave. Instead, she just looked pathetic. 

He raised one eyebrow, but it seemed pretty obvious that Ava wasn’t going to be the one to speak first. She wanted as much power as she could get in this conversation. Obadiah decided to play along, at least for now. He could always quickly flip the balance of power if he needed to. “So what was so important about meeting me that was worth your life?”

Ava sighed. “I want to make a deal with you.” She clenched her hands into fists, and stared up at Obadiah with determination in her bright green eyes. “And I realized that I don’t have much to offer you.”

Obadiah rolled his eyes. “Try nothing.”

The girl bit her lip, then steeled her face a bit. “I have myself. I know that that’s something you want. You created me, right? Which means that you must’ve wanted to be able to use me, and not just as some stupid spy. So that’s why I want to make a deal. You agree to leave the Avengers alone, and I’ll work for you of my own free will. Just cut the connection you’ve got that lets you see and hear everything that I do, and I’ll be your weapon, or machine, or whatever it is that you originally intended for me to be.”

Obadiah stroked his chin thoughtfully. Admittedly, it did sound like a pretty good deal on the surface. But there’s no way he’d be able to trust Ava to do his bidding if he couldn’t keep an eye on her. “How can I trust that you’ll remain loyal to me if I have no idea what you’re up to at any given moment?”

Ava looked at him helplessly, like she hadn’t even thought of that. What an idiot. But she was a useful idiot, which meant that Obadiah could figure out some way to work this all out. The girl sighed, and spoke in a soft, uncertain voice. “You could always just pay me?”

Obadiah blinked in surprise. “What?”

She shrugged. “Well, you always keep the loyalty of your men by paying them, right? So all you have to do is pay me. Plus, Tony can’t get mad and claim that you’re making me do things when I’ll have proof that you’re paying me just like any other employee of yours.” There was such a hopeful look in her eyes. “Please. Even if you don’t want to pay me, there’s got to be something I can do. All I want is for you to set me free and leave the Avengers alone.”

That’s all she wanted? That was a hell of a lot to ask for. Then again, with the threat of him being able to hurt her family on the line, maybe it wouldn’t be quite so hard to convince Ava to not betray him. “Let’s just say that I do agree to this little deal of yours. How exactly will that work?”

“We both stay out of New York City. Forever. I can still contact my family because I won’t be some prisoner slave of yours, and you can still send lackies into the city if you need to, as long as they don’t interact or interfere with the Avengers in any way. You send me out to do the things you want me to do, and I’ll get them done, in whatever way I see fit.” 

Obadiah raised one eyebrow. “You’re willing to never see them again in person and to work for me, who you hate? I honestly don’t know if that means that you love them or hate them.”

Ava looked down at the table, preparing herself for Obadiah to tell her that he wasn’t going to make the deal. But there was really no benefit in not making it. Even with the Avengers off limits, Obadiah would have the entire rest of the world at his fingertips. “If you ever try to betray me or go against me in any way, I’ll make sure that your precious Avengers suffer for it. And don’t worry, I could hurt them plenty, in ways that you couldn’t even imagine.”

Ava looked hesitant, but then she nodded. “Okay. Okay, fine. Do we have a deal?”

Obadiah didn’t bother answering. He just pulled out his phone. He hadn’t been stupid enough to bring Ava’s controls to this meeting, where she could just knock him out and then grab them. Once the person on the other end answered, he spoke in his usual gruff bark. “Shut them off. If you haven’t heard from me in twenty-four hours, turn them back on, along with that nice little self-destruct button.” He hung up and slipped the phone back into my pocket. “This is just a test run. I’m sure you understand.”

Ava nodded. “Yeah, I get it.” 

Obadiah stood up and walked to Ava’s side of the table. He extended one arm so that they could shake hands. Ava gulped, then stood up. She reached out her hand too. Except, she didn’t return the gesture. Her hand darted into Obadiah’s pocket, and she yanked out his phone. Obadiah frowned. “Now isn’t the time for games. Hand that over right now if you don’t want the people you care about to suffer.”

There was a terrified look on Ava’s face, and Obadiah wasn’t sure what to think of that. Why should she be that scared of him? She already knew that he wasn’t going to kill her. Though he was up for a bit of torture if necessary, he’d prefer to keep his science project in one piece. Ava gulped. “I’m doing this for them.”

Before Obadiah could ask her to hand the phone back again, or just what the hell she was doing in general, Ava’s eyes looked like little microchips, and she was holding a large green sword in her hand. Because of how close she was standing to him, it was already stabbing into Obadiah. He moved to take a step back, and Ava followed him. She looked sick to her stomach, but she had a lot more resolve than Obadiah had ever really given her credit for.

She thrust the sword forward. Then she slipped Obadiah’s phone into her own pocket, and stabbed into him with a second sword that she was holding in her other hand. Obadiah’s eyes widened, and he wanted to wring that pathetic girl’s neck. He wanted to make her suffer.

It had been a while since Obadiah had let himself be outsmarted. He hadn’t expected Ava to have it in her to be okay with murdering someone. Apparently it had just reached the point where he’d pushed her too far. “Their going to slaughter you,” he choked out.

Ava let go of both swords, which meant they disappeared immediately. With them no longer holding him up, Obadiah collapsed to the floor. Ava held up a green tape recorder. It played back Obadiah’s voice. “All I have to do is call them on your phone and have you tell them that they’re to dismantle the entire system right away.” She crouched down next to Obadiah. “Game over.” The worst part was the look on her face. She didn’t even look smug. She mostly just looked regretful, and sad, and a bit angry. 

Obadiah reached up and snatched Ava’s neck with one hand. There was a knife in her hand a second later, and she plunged it down, right into Obadiah’s heart. His hands fell away, and landed on the floor heavily.

Ava sat there on the tile floor, next to a dead body. A dead body of a man she’d just killed. Tony would be so disappointed in her. Heroes weren’t supposed to kill people. No matter how evil said people were. She could argue that she’d had no other choice, but that wasn’t true. She had just chosen this as her best option. And Ava would have to live with herself forever.

She held up her hands, and saw that they were covered in blood. Her holograms always disappeared the moment she wanted them to. But this was real. This wasn’t something that would just go away.

But Ava knew that she didn’t have to figure this all out on her own. Now she had a family that would support her, and make sure that she found a way to cope. No matter what the rules of heroics were, all of the Avengers had blood on their hands, even if it was only a little bit. 

She could hear the sirens outside, and she wanted to scramble away, to make sure that no one could accuse her of being the perpetrator. But she couldn’t do that, because she needed to make sure that he was truly dead. Before anything else could happen, Ava called the last number dialed on Obadiah’s phone, and played back her recordings in exactly the right order. By the time they learned that Obadiah was dead, they’d have already taken apart the machine.

Everything else after that was a bit of a blur. The police came in and pulled Ava away from the body. They took her down to the police station, and got her some clean clothes. The detective in charge of the case was being very nice, offering Ava something to drink, and speaking in a kind voice. Ava asked if she could make a quick call, and the detective let her.

So Ava called somebody who she knew would always be looking out for her. The phone rang a few times before that posh British voice answered. “This is the private line of Tony Stark. May I ask who is calling?”

Ava wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, so she sort of did. “Jarvis, it’s me. Put Tony on.”

Almost instantly, Tony was the one speaking. “Ava? Where are you? Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m in a little town called Barneveld. Calling from the police station. The business with Obadiah is done. He’s never going to be able to hurt you again.”

Tony breathed in sharply, then forced himself to speak slowly and calmly. “Ava, what did you do?”

The teen’s voice cracked as more tears slid down her cheeks. “I did what I had to. I don’t know whether I’m supposed to regret it or not.”

Tony wasn’t stupid. He could figure out what Ava was saying. “Don’t talk to anybody until I get there. I’ll get you out of this, okay? Just trust me. Okay?”

Ava nodded, and was glad that she’d made the right call. Tony would fix things. He would take care of this. Ava had done her part to make things right, and now she was going to rely on her father to help her. It wasn’t something that she was used to being able to do, and it made happy little butterflies flit through her stomach.

Before she could hang up, Tony had insisted that she talk to all of the Avengers that were around the tower at the moment. Most of them scolded her for running away, and apparently nearly giving Tony a heart attack. But once they heard about what happened, they didn’t have as much to say. None of them had clean enough hands that they could afford to lecture Ava. And they weren’t really sure what to say to comfort her. They all knew how horrible that first kill could be.

And for Ava, this was so much worse than when she’d almost killed Tony. At least then she’d had the excuse of creepy mind control stuff. Now she was the only one who could take responsibility for her actions. 

The police were mostly just confused. They didn’t know how Obadiah could’ve been stabbed to death when there were no weapons on the scene, but every witness could clearly attest that they’d seen Ava do it, and that she’d never left between Obadiah dying and the police showing up, which meant she wouldn’t have had any time to stash her weapon.  
Ava wished that she’d been able to pick their meeting location, but Obadiah probably would’ve been too suspicious to show up anywhere she chose. He probably picked a busy diner specifically so that Ava wouldn’t be able to hurt him in front of all those people. He just hadn’t counted on the fact that she was dedicated to using what would probably be her only opportunity to take out Obadiah.

Ava sighed. She was nearly certain that she’d do much worse things in the future, but for today, she felt about as bad as she thought possible. Murder was wrong no matter what. But admittedly, Obadiah had it coming. And the police were only more confused when they found his death certificate already on file from several years ago. Ava couldn’t give them the answers they wanted, though. She’d promised that she wouldn’t say anything until Tony showed up. And it was finally time to start doing what Tony said. He was her dad, afterall.


	54. Chapter 54

Ava stared blankly at the wall in front of her. She knew that there had to be detectives on the other side of the two way mirror, watching her. They probably wondered if it was possible that she was the culprit. The murderer. She wanted to call Tony again, but suddenly pulling a phone out from nowhere might catch the attention of the people currently investigating into her.

There was a loud commotion coming from out in the hallway, and Ava craned her neck, trying to figure out what was going on. The door to the interrogation room opened a moment later, and Tony burst in, followed by several police officers who were stating all kinds of regulations and rules that were being violated. 

Tony crouched down next to Ava. He looked at her warily, and she had no idea what was going through his head. He spoke softly, trying to keep his words only between the two of them. Maybe even trying to keep them entirely to himself. “At first, I thought that maybe you changed your mind. That maybe you didn’t want me. Which I get. I’m a horrible person. And I drink too much when you’re not around to be obnoxious about it. I don’t know shit about children. Everyone knows that I’m a complete asshole and I’ve been with way too many women. If getting away was what you really wanted, if all I’d actually been able to do for you was set you free, then I would make myself be okay with that.”

Ava shook her head. “I don’t need you to be perfect Tony. Dad. I’d almost be impressed if you managed to be even half as bad a parent as the ones who raised me.” She smiled. “Besides, you’re super rich. What more could a girl want from her father?” Tony pulled her into a hug, and even though she couldn’t return it because her hands were cuffed, he knew that she wanted to. “I do need you.”

Tony stood up, and cleared his throat. He put his sunglasses on even though they were inside, and Ava wasn’t going to call him out on that. “So what exactly happened? That’s the part that everyone seems to be a bit confused about.” Ava glanced at the officers still standing in the doorway, and Tony followed her gaze. He looked at the officers sternly. “If you don’t mind, I need some time to speak with my daughter.”

One of the officers nervously stepped forward. “Sir, that’s not really how it works. There are rules and-”

Tony pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He held the phone out to the officer, who accepted it with shaky hands. He held the phone up for a moment, gulped, then handed it back. Tony arched one eyebrow. “Now can I have a moment alone with my daughter, or are you going to make me ask again?”

The officers nodded meekly and left the room. Ava grinned. “Having one of the most influential men in the world as my father? Who could say no to that.”

Tony didn’t smile. “So what happened?”

Ava sighed. She didn’t really want to get into it all, but she knew that she would have to if she wanted to ever be able to get back home with Tony. She cleared her throat. “Obadiah was never going to leave us alone. I’d either have to live knowing he’s monitoring my every move, or leave you behind entirely and work for him of my own volition. Neither of those options sounded very appealing. So I…” her voice dropped to a whisper. “I killed him.”

“With your power?” Ava nodded miserably, and even with the sunglasses on, she could see that Tony looked uncertain on how to proceed. He sighed. “You know, they don’t teach you how to deal with this kind of stuff when you’re in school. I want to be so mad at you right now. I didn’t…” he shook his head. “You know, they say that when you have a daughter, it’s karma for everything you’ve done in your life. If that’s the case, then I’ve got a lot of bad karma built up. And I’m sorry for passing it on to you.” Tony tilted his head to look at Ava. “I hate Obadiah for a lot of things. I want to hate him for stealing my DNA to use in a science experiment. But I can’t be, because without him, I’d never have you.”

Ava smiled. “You’re such a sap. So what am I going to do?”

Tony grabbed Ava’s cuffed hands. “We are going to argue with everything that we’ve got in us. We’re not going to let you go to jail, or get taken away by Shield. You’re going to be just fine.”

When the police captain barged in a minute later, he kicked Tony out. The billionaire called in his lawyers, and they were all swarming the small town by the end of the next day. Ava wasn’t sure exactly what words were exchanged, but she knew that two days later, she was getting in one of Tony’s more expensive cars, ready to drive back to New York City together. 

Ava stared at the window as they drove. “I’m surprised you’d risk getting any mud on this hunk of scrap.”

Tony looked offended. “Hey! I’ve put a lot of hours of work into making this car function at optimal levels, and I only brought it because I thought that it was your favorite.”

Ava snorted. “It is my favorite. Out of all your hunks of scrap, this one has the most hunk and the least scraps.” Then she shook her head. “No, wait, that’s a lie. My favorite hunk of junk you’ve got is the Iron Man suit.”

Tony’s jaw dropped. “That suit is a work of art!” he protested.

Ava snickered at his reaction, and when he reached over to swat her gently in the arm, she knew he wasn’t mad. After a few more minutes, Ava glanced over at her father. “You know, you’re going to have to stop being nice to me at some point. Real dads aren’t supposed to be this nice. You’re supposed to yell at me for running away. And probably ground me for murdering someone.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I’m going to give you a pass on the running away and murdering someone thing just this once, so don’t bother trying to take advantage of my compassion. And I’ll start being a stricter dad in the morning.” They both knew that he wouldn’t. Tony would always be too afraid that he’d be too much like his own father, and he couldn’t stand that thought. He was also afraid that if he said the wrong thing, or acted too strict, Ava would run away again, and this time it wouldn’t be to save him, it would be to get away from him. 

By the time they did finally arrive back at the tower, they were both incredibly exhausted. They walked inside, and Pepper was waiting in the front hall for them, Frederick standing right next to her. Tony frowned at the suspicious way that the goat was chewing.

Pepper darted forward to pull Ava into a tight hug. “Oh my god! I’m so glad that you’re alright!” There was the sound of a loud crash coming from the living room, and Ava pried herself away from the red head so that she could go see what the commotion was. 

There were the other Avengers milling about, arguing and talking and laughing and acting like themselves, in general. Ava looked at them bashfully, unsure if they were going to yell at her again. Despite what she’d said to Tony, she obviously didn’t want to be yelled at.

Thor walked was the first to walk over to her, and he pulled her into a crushingly tight hug. “Ah, you have returned ever the conquering hero!”

Clint cleared his throat. “Dude, we generally don’t try to encourage children to kill people around here.”

Thor nodded. “Of course not.” He leaned closer to whisper so that only Ava could hear him. “Excellent work. You make a fine little warrior.”

Ava chuckled as Thor backed off, and Clint gave Thor a suspicious look. Then Steve smiled to try and break the awkward air around them all. “This has been a pretty trying past couple of years for you, hasn’t it?”

Ava nodded. “Yup. But I guess it was all worth it, because I’m rich now.”

“Well, you are Tony Stark’s daughter.”

Ava shook her head. “No, I mean I’m independently rich.” She raised one eyebrow at all of the blank faces. “None of you have heard?” There was no response so she walked over to the large tv and turned it on. She did a quick search, and then found a news video to show the Avengers.

The clip showed Ava’s adopted parents with thermal blankets wrapped around them, sitting in the back of an ambulance. “Stan and Margie Bench were being held for ransom by Obadiah Stane, a man thought to have died several years ago. His body was recovered, though the circumstances surrounding his ‘second’ death are rather mysterious. Upon returning home, the Bench’s, much to everyone’s surprise, passed eighty percent of their assets on to their daughter, who was legally adopted in court a few weeks ago by Tony Stark. For more information, see-” Ava paused the clip, and turned back to the superheroes.

Ava shrugged. “Well, the world certainly must think that I lead some kind of amazingly glamorous life. But the point is that I’m rich now. Stan and Margie were super rich. Like, rich enough to run in the same social circles as Tony, if they ever actually wanted to do anything that would put them in the eyes of the public. And now I control eighty percent of everything they had. So even without Tony, I’d be super rich.”

Natasha laughed. “Now what does Tony have to offer you that’s good enough to make you stay?”

Tony came into the room, and gently put his hands down on Ava’s shoulders. “Hey now. She’s not only here for my money.”

Ava tilted her head back to look at Tony. “Actually…”

Clint and Natasha snickered at that, and Tony pretended to be offended even though everyone could see pretty clearly that he wasn’t actually upset. Tony rolled his eyes. “The lack of respect I get around here, in my own home, is rather appalling. All of you guys are being evicted. Get out.”

No one made any move to leave, of course. Instead, they all plopped down on the couch to huddle up and watch a movie. Ava jokingly suggested that they should watch the latest documentary on the Avengers that had come out, and everyone agreed that that sounded like fun.

The documentary portrayed the heroes in a good light. It made them all look like the mighty defenders of the Earth that they were. The most surprising part was near the end. There was a photograph that had been taken secretly, and they showed Tony and Ava in that little park she’d taken him to on the day that they’d first met.

In the picture, Ava was on the swing, and the photo had been timed perfectly so that it showed mere seconds before Ava had sprung herself off. Tony was standing right there, the look of concern on his face pretty obvious. His body was angled like he was about to jump forward and catch Ava if he needed to.

The narrator was explaining how Tony had been seen taking in a young girl who’d been identified as the Bench heir. The documentary had been made before all of the court proceedings and such, but it did mention that it was possible there was a new Avenger on the way, with Iron Man as her mentor.

Ava glanced at Tony, and saw that he was still wearing his sunglasses. She wasn’t going to say anything about it, though. He deserved a little bit of privacy when he was feeling emotional. By the time the film was over, Pepper and Ava were the only ones not softly snoring. 

When Pepper noticed that Ava was up, she motioned for the girl to follow her out of the living room, and down the hall, where they’d be able to speak without waking up the others. Ava gave Pepper a curious look. “What’s up?”

Pepper sighed. “I know that you’ve been through a lot lately. And I know that you haven’t had the best childhood, and Tony’s just a giant child who will hardly ever take responsibility, and I’ve never done this before, so I’m just going to go for it.” She took a deep breath, then let it out. “You running away like that was completely unacceptable. Everyone here was running around like crazy, trying to find you.” There was a stern lilt to her voice. “So don’t you dare ever do that again.” Then she pulled Ava into a hug, and spoke in a much gentler tone. “We were all worried sick. Because we love you, Ava. Do you understand? We don’t want to lose you. We wouldn’t be able to stand it.”

Ava gulped. “I don’t think that I’ve ever been scolded by a parent before. Are you going to ground me and give me a curfew, too?”

Pepper tilted her head contemplatively, then shook it. “Nah. We’ll save that for next time you sneak out to kill someone.”

“Hey, in my defense, I wasn’t intending on killing him. I was just going to confront him and ask him nicely if he would be willing to stop spying on me all the time. I didn’t decide to actually… kill him… until after he’d actually agreed to meet with me in person. It was the only way to make sure that things were over for good.”

Pepper hesitated before clearing her throat. “You know that there’s going to be other things, right? I mean, there’s always going to be other things. That’s what happens when you have any sort of relationship with a superhero. Superheroes build up enemies, and enemies are smart enough to realize that a hero’s family is almost always going to end up being their weakness. More bad things are going to happen, and there’s nothing that we can do to change that. Other than just leave, but I don’t think that either of us are really on board with that.”

Ava shook her head. “Pepper, I’m not just going to be some innocent bystander. I’m not going to wait around at home every time they go out, worrying the entire time that any of them might not come back. I’m not going to be the weakness. For any of them. I’m going to go out with them. I’m going to fight by their sides. I’m going to be an Avenger.”

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, so Pepper and Ava both turned to see Tony standing behind them. “Hey now, maybe that’s not something that we really need to discuss at the moment.”

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t just leave me behind. We both know that if I wanted to, I could get past Jarvis pretty easily.”

Tony nodded. “Fair enough. But are you forgetting about the fact that last time you went out to fight as an Avenger, you ended up comatose and then woke up with no memories of any of the people who care about you?”

Ava shook her head stubbornly. “There’s no way that I’m going to just sit around and do nothing. I want to help. And if I have to sneak out every time to do it, and then consequently be grounded every time, then I accept that. I can’t just stay behind. You know me. You know that I can be useful.”

Tony met Pepper’s eyes, and Pepper sighed in defeat. “There’s no point in me saying anything here. Between the two of you, there’ll be too much puppy dog eyes to go around. There’s no way I’ll be able to say no, so I might as well say yes right now.” She looked at Ava. “As long as you promise to do whatever the others tell you too when you’re out on the battlefields. And you can’t just rush ahead and expect everything to work out properly. There will be rules put into place,” she exhaled loudly. “But I’m not going to be the one stopping you from going out.”

Ava turned to Tony, who closed his eyes, then nodded slowly. “Fine, yes. But you have to do everything that Pepper just said. And if you ever do anything stupid that ends with you or anyone else getting hurt, then you’re immediately out. This is already your seconds chance.”

Ava nodded eagerly. “Yes to all of it. I swear, I’m not going to let you down.”

Tony ruffled Ava’s hair. “I know that already. There’s nothing you can do that would let me down. Now let’s go get some blankets for those losers, and then go down to my labs to work on something fun.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Run along then, children. I’ll grab the blankets.” Tony and Ava exchanged a gleeful look, then hurried over to the elevator. When Pepper went to the lab a few hours later to check on them, she saw that they were both resting their heads down on the metal table. She draped a blanket over them, and shook her head softly. They looked so at peace, finally.


	55. Chapter 55

Ava heard a familiar sounding shriek, and she jumped over the third floor balcony railing, landing neatly on the first floor. She hurried over to the source of the noise, her adrenaline rushing. That had clearly been Tony’s shriek, even though he’d most likely deny it because of the lack of manliness, and there were a million thoughts running through Ava’s head about what could possibly be going wrong.

Had she not killed Obadiah good enough? Were one of Tony’s other past foes back for vengeance? One of Iron Man’s enemies? She skidded around the corner, and then rushed forward, into the kitchen. 

She paused to take in the sight that greeted her. Tony was clutching a briefcase tightly to his chest, and was slowly backing away from Frederick, who was bleating harmlessly. 

Tony looked up when he heard Ava’s giggle, and he looked offended, but it was too difficult to take him seriously when he was dancing away from a little goat. He immediately tried to relax and look like he hadn’t just been freaking out. He cleared his throat. “Ava, this miscreant was eating important paperwork of mine.”

Ava raised one eyebrow. “So you’re solution was to… run away?”

Tony frowned. “You need to get this wild animal under control or I’m going to be forced to send it back to… wherever it is that you got it in the first place!”

Ava walked over and knelt down next to Frederick, wrapping her arms around his neck in a loose hug. “Frederick is so sweet. He’d never hurt anybody. And if you think otherwise, than you must be crazy.”

Tony frowned. “Well you’re in no position to lecture me about running away.” He tried to give Ava a menacing glare, but it completely failed.

Ava snickered as she stood back up. “You’re adorable.” Then her eyes landed on his briefcase. “Heading out?”

Tony sighed, and all the silliness of the situation evaporated. “There’s a big thing in Texas. I have to be there. I wanted to take you along and then stay a few extra days, but Pepper insists that you get a formal education, and it wouldn’t look good to the school if you missed the first week or two.” He gave Frederick a wary look before skirting around the goat, and towards the front door. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d want to stay at your old school or pick a new one, so I thought that I’d leave it up to you.”

Ava smiled gratefully. “Well, since I’ve missed almost two years’ worth of material, I’m probably better off going somewhere else. Plus, everyone would think it’s weird that I’m suddenly not invisible anymore. So starting fresh seems like my best choice.”

Tony nodded. “Alright. I’ll have Jarvis contact the nearest school here.” He frowned. “I don’t know if I should recommend that you start where you left off, or just skip the lost time. I mean, you are very smart, and I have no doubt that you’d be able to handle it. Plus I don’t want you still in high school when you’re still twenty. But it would probably mean more work, so again, it’s up to you.”

The teen chuckled. “I have one of the smartest guys in the world to defer to if I ever get lost. I think I’ll risk skipping those years.”

Tony nodded, and then pulled Ava into a hug. “I really do have to go now. I was hoping to leave before you noticed so that I wouldn’t miss my plane because I was so busy hugging you.”

Ava shoved his away gently. “Get going, old man. If you miss your private jet, which probably can’t take off until you get there anyways, then they’re going to make you jog all the way to Texas. I doubt you’d even make it to the end of the street.” Tony looked offended even as Ava was pushing him out the door. “Have fun in Texas. I’ll see you when you get back.”

Tony paused in the doorway, and spoke in a softer voice. “Are you sure that you don’t mind? Because it wouldn’t really bother me to just cancel this meeting.”

Ava narrowed her eyes. “I’m not letting you use me as an excuse to get out of your work. Get going before I sic Pepper on you.”

Sufficiently intimidated, Tony took off, but not before giving Ava one last hug, and a quick kiss to the forehead. Then he was gone, and Ava watched his car race down the street, probably going above the speed limit by a lot. Once the car was out of sight, Ava stepped back inside, and closed the door.

She wandered around until she found Pepper lounging on the couch in the big living room, scrolling through something on her tablet while the tv played softly in the background. Ava cleared her throat. “If there’s some big Stark Industries thing going on in Texas, shouldn’t you be there too since you’re the CEO?”

Pepper shook her head. “Believe it or not, I have a lot of actually important work to do, where Tony just has to show up and be a figurehead. He’s like the mascot of Stark Industries, so people expect him to go to those things. I can stay here and keep doing all the work that I’ve been doing since long before I was the CEO.” After a moment, she turned off her tablet, and patted the space next to her on the couch. Ava took the hint to sit down. “So I wanted to talk to you about-”

Ava shrugged. “I already know that I’m going to be sent to school. I can’t believe you guys are going to force me to learn and grow and figure out how to be an adult. It’s outrageous.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Yes, completely unfair. So would you rather go public or private?”

Ava had spent her entire childhood going to public school. It hadn’t been the best of times, but what few of the good memories she had all came from there. And from what she knew from Tony, private schools were worse. Full of a bunch of rich preppy kids who didn’t know shit, but always wanted to make sure that they were the smartest people in the room. Always competing and feeling pressured and stressed. No way did Ava think she’d be able to learn very well in that environment. “Public. And not the one that I used to go to.”

Pepper just nodded, not questioning Ava’s decision. If she had questioned it, then it wouldn’t really be Ava’s choice anymore. “Alright. So I was thinking that if we find one not too far away, then Tony or I could walk you there and back every day.”

Ava frowned. “You know that I’m perfectly old enough to walk by myself, right?”

Pepper pressed her lips together tightly so that they formed a thin line. “This is something that Tony and I have already discussed. You’ve proven yourself capable of a great deal of things that most kids your age could never even imagine. However, you’ve also proven yourself to be irresponsible and irrational and prone to leaving the moment you think that something’s gone wrong. So until you can prove to us that you deserve to be trusted again, we’re going to walk you to school.”

It stung, but Ava could also see how that was fair. While she’d gotten off the hook because of extenuating circumstances and all that, Ava knew that there was only so far she could push against the people who were now her parents before they figured out that they needed to push back. And she also knew that they’d been scared for her when she’d just disappeared. Which is why they weren’t going to risk it happening again.

So Ava had to just be mature and accept the consequences for her actions. She nodded. “Alright.”

Pepper’s expression softened, and she let out a soft groan. “You know, this isn’t what any of us expected our lives to turn into. I mean, I was just off at work one day, when I get a call from Tony and find out he’s taken in a kid the way that some people take in stray cats. At first I thought that you were just some con artist trying to scam the famous Tony Stark. When I realized that that wasn’t the case, I thought that I could stay out of it, and he’d get bored eventually. That he’d give you a ton of money and then send you on your way. That I wouldn’t even have to have anything to do with you at all. I can’t remember the exact day that it occurred to me you were part of our lives, and we were stuck with you. That we wanted to be stuck with you.” She took a deep breath, and then let it out. “And then it seemed like everything in the universe was intent to keep us all apart, just after we’d finally pulled our heads out of our asses and realized that we were family. In the short amount of time that I’ve known you, Ava, you’ve managed to take up a rather large place in Tony’s heart. And in mine. I don’t think that either of us could bear to lose you again. Which is why some things that we’re going to do may seem unfair. But we’re doing them to protect you, and protect those pieces of our hearts.”

Ava smirked. “Ah. So you must’ve always felt pretty awkward when I called you Virginia.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Yes, I did. Please don’t start that back up again.”

Ava stood up, a shit eating grin on her face. “Why not, Virginia? Is something the matter, Virginia?”

Pepper stood up as well. “I’d really prefer it if you didn’t call me that.”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “But why not? It’s your name, isn’t it Virginia?”

Pepper sighed. “I don’t care about that part. Yes, it’s my name, and it’s a perfectly good name. And it would still be the name that everyone used for me if it weren’t for Tony. Even my parents call me Pepper now.” She shrugged. “That’s not what this is about.”

The teen looked curious. “So then what is it about?”

“The other day, I overheard you talking to Tony. You called him ‘Dad’.”

Ava nodded slowly. “Because that’s what he is. I mean, biologically and legally at this point. And I don’t exactly know what a good father is supposed to be like, but I know for sure that he’s the best I’ll ever have, and I wouldn’t want anyone else. You mentioned taking pieces of his heart? Well he’s got a piece of mine too.”

Pepper smiled gently. “I know. I just think that…” She trailed off, then shook her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t really matter. I’ve got work that I should be doing right now, so you should probably go find something else to do.” She sat back down on her couch and picked up her tablet, powering it back on.

Ava’s eyes widened in understanding, and as she spoke, Pepper refused to look up from the screen of her tablet. “Wait, are you jealous? Do you want me to start calling you ‘dad’? I mean, ‘mom’?” She paused for a moment. Hadn’t Pepper been there at some of Ava’s most important moments, right alongside Tony? Well, not really, if she was being honest with herself. Of course she loved Pepper. The woman was an inspiration, one that everyone should look up to. But had she really done anything to earn ‘mom’ status? Ava wasn’t sure. She lowered her voice. “I don’t- I’m not-”

Pepper looked up, her business face on. “Ava, it’s perfectly okay. You can still call me Pepper. Now I really do have a lot of work to be doing right now, okay? Maybe later we can watch a movie or something.”

Ava could hear the clear dismissal in Pepper’s words. “Yeah, sure. Later.” She mumbled. Then she flew back up to the third floor, and walked into her room, slamming the door behind her. Had she just completely ruined her relationship with Pepper? Was Pepper really petty enough to hate Ava over something as little as a moniker? Apparently she was.

Ava paced back and forth in her room, resisting the urge to punch something. Just because her dad was rich didn’t mean he should have to pay for wall repairs all the time. A familiar, soothingly accented voice interrupted Ava’s fuming. “Ava, you appear to be in distress. Are you alright?”

Ava sighed, and sank down onto her bed. “Yeah, Jarvis. Just peachy.” There was a moment of silence, and then she rolled over so that she could punch her pillow. “It’s just so- ugh! I mean, I get that Tony and Pepper and me are all supposed to be a family together, and I do care about her, but she hasn’t been there for me the way that Tony has! Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first to say that she’s infinitely better than Margie Bench when it comes to mothers, but the problem is that I don’t really think of her as a mother. But now I’ve disappointed her, because she thought that that’s the sort of relationship we had? Which is so bizarre because she’s always acted kind of stiff and distant around me until pretty recently. What am I supposed to do, Jarvis?”

There was a pause, and Ava thought that maybe she’d just been venting to the walls instead of to the AI. Then Jarvis responded, sounding like he was choosing his words carefully. “I believe that Ms Potts is perhaps just as bad as dealing with her feelings as Sir? It is perhaps difficult for her to open up, especially when you’ve so far proved yourself to be a flight risk.”

Ava sighed. “But I only left to protect them. And now they’re doing a weird combination of treating me with kid gloves and treating me like a responsible adult. What am I supposed to make of that?”

“Try not to focus so much on all of the negative stuff. Focus on how you feel. Do you feel like it would be unnatural to call Ms Potts your mother?” 

Ava shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten the chance the try it out. I’m not sure if I even want to. Is a mother supposed to be so… ugh?”

Jarvis’s voice almost sounded tinged with amusement. “I believe that that is how many mother daughter relationships are described, as teenagers and adults find it difficult to find common ground between them. And the gap between you and Ms Potts is larger than most, since you haven’t known her your entire life, and are still unsure of how to act around her.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Jarvis, you could be like one of those radio personalities that people call and tell all of their problems to. You’re actually surprisingly good at giving advice. No matter what anyone says, I think you are made of slightly more than just the typical AI stuff.”

“You of all people should know otherwise, considering how many times you’ve hacked into my programming.”

Ava chuckled. “Sorry about that. I wouldn’t really call it ‘hacking’ anyways. I mean, it’s not like I connected to your servers from another computer, or anything.”

“That would’ve been redundant, as you are practically a computer on your own. Your body contains a much higher percentage of non-organic material than most other humans. And where most have external bits that are non-organic, you’ve got it rooted in the very wiring of your whole body.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Geez, I get it, Jarvis. I’m clearly a freak of nature. Well, not of nature, exactly, since it was evil scientists who made me the way I am. I wonder if I should be grateful or not. Do you think that if I was just a regular kid who hadn’t been kidnapped at birth and horribly abused that Tony would’ve still been interested in me?”

“No,” Ava almost gasped out loud at the sting of Jarvis’s reply. “He has changed a lot in the time that he’s known you. Had he accidentally impregnated a woman, I do not believe that he would’ve taken responsibility for the child beyond giving money to them.”

Ava gulped. “Oh. Well, thanks for being honest, Jarvis. Do you know when Tony’s going to be back, anyways?”

Jarvis answered patiently, “In approximately nine days.”

Ava groaned. “Really? Over a week of being trapped in here with someone who I’m now on very awkward ground with? This is going to be so much fun.”


	56. Chapter 56

Pepper came to a sudden halt while walking, and Ava ended up colliding with the woman, since she hadn’t been anticipating the stop. Pepper glanced back with some annoyance. “Ava, don’t you have anything better to be doing than following me around? There’s got to be someone else you can annoy.”

Ava pretended to look hurt by that statement, even though they both knew that she didn’t really care. Ava looked around. “I don’t see anyone else around that I can annoy. I think that you’re my only option.” Pepper rolled her eyes, and kept walking. Ava also resumed walking. “So why did you stop so suddenly anyways?”

“I thought it would be funny to see whether you would crash into me or not.”

Ava rolled her eyes, and then let a more serious look cross over her face. “Seriously though, what’s wrong?”

Pepper sighed, and she looked tired. “It’s not really a big deal. I just need to learn to get used to it, is all.”

The teen frowned. “Are you upset because Tony’s so far away? I mean, I’m worried about him too. Who knows what kind of trouble he could get into, and-”

Pepper shook her head. “He goes off on business trips all the time, that’s not the part that worries me.” She abruptly turned and walked into the living room. Ava followed out of curiosity. “Jarvis, show us that news clip from an hour ago.”

The tv turned on quietly, and it showed a recorded news clip. Ava looked at the screen with interest. There was a reporter standing in front of a demolished building, looking slightly frazzled. “-goodness for Iron Man. If it weren’t for New York’s famous hero, we’d all be in a lot of trouble down here. This is Colbie West, saying thanks to the man in the suit.”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “So he’s a superhero off doing superhero-y things and that’s why you’re upset?” She flopped down onto the couch with a loud sigh. “I’ve gotta be honest with you, I don’t get it. I mean, that’s where he excels. Why wouldn’t you want him to be saving people’s lives, and having fun while he does it?”

Pepper narrowed her eyes. “Is that your subtle way of telling me that you deserve to be out there too? Because the answer to that is still no.”

While Ava was never going to give up on her dream of being a superhero, even if it took another thousand years, right now, she genuinely wanted to figure out Pepper’s point of view. It just didn’t make any sense to her that someone could not want their significant other to be a superhero. Besides being a billionaire and a genius, being a superhero was one of the best qualities that a person could possibly have. Ava shook her head. “No, I want to know what you have against him being a hero. This has nothing to do with me.”

Pepper took in a deep breath, then let it out in one long whoosh. “I guess it’s just frightening. To think that I could see him off one day, and everything is perfectly fine, but then because he insists on going out and risking his life, there could be- will be a day when he doesn’t…”

Her shoulders slumped, and she sank down on the couch next to Ava. Ava patted Pepper’s shoulder comfortingly. “Hey, don’t think like that. Even if he wasn’t a superhero, there’s a billion absolutely horrible things that could happen to him.” She said it matter-of-factly, like it didn’t bother her at all to think like that.

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”

Ava sort of shrugged and nodded at the same time. She thought back to her own life. Before she’d ever met Tony. Before she’d ever been anything other than nothing. Plenty of bad things had happened to her, and she’d never even come close to being a superhero back then. She spoke in a soft voice. “Kinda. The world is an entirely unpredictable place. Someone could get hit by a car right now and die and you’ll see it all over the news, but because it wasn’t your somebody, you don’t really think of it. But think about it right now. Think of how many somebodies get hurt and die in random accidents, without being anywhere near supervillains or aliens. It doesn’t matter how safely or dangerously you live your life, you’ll still always have the same chance of something going wrong as everybody else. So just relax. He’s just as likely to get hurt here doing nothing, only he’d be a lot more miserable. Everybody’s got to go at some point, that’s just a fact. Why don’t you let him have as many glorious moments as he can? And then when you’re together, make as many happy memories as you can. Don’t worry about the other stuff. If Tony Stark says that he’s going to come home, then he’s going to come home.” She got up and walked over to the tv. 

Jarvis broke into the heavy atmosphere a moment later. “Excuse me, but Sir just called to inform the two of you that his trip home will most likely be delayed by several days.”

Pepper couldn’t help the laugh that was forced out of her. She gently grabbed Ava and pulled the girl into the middle of the room. “Jarvis, did Tony really just call?”

“I’m afraid not, Miss Potts,” he sounded slightly irritated. “My system was overridden. Again.”

Pepper looked down at Ava with a stern expression on her face, but found that she just didn’t really have it in her to scold the kid. She sighed. “Fine, whatever. Just don’t do it again.” The words didn’t have quite the strict undertones that she’d meant them to.

Ava knew it, because she just laughed as she danced away from Pepper’s grasp. “Wanna tango?”

Pepper shook her head. “I’m afraid that I do have work that I actually need to get done. And you do too. The school already sent over a couple of packets they want you to complete so they can figure out which classes to place you in.”

Ava shrugged. “I’ll just flunk on all of them so that I can get into the classes for stupid people, and I’ll have the easiest year ever.”

Pepper looked like she was about to say something in argument, but then she just shrugged. “Okay. If that’s what you think is best.”

Ava narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Okay, what’s wrong with you? You love to argue with me about things that are completely inane and stupid. So why aren’t you saying anything about this?”

Pepper turned to leave the room. “Do what you want to, Ava. I’m not going to stop you. You’re the one who won’t be able to feel any pride for your high grades because they weren’t given in response to any sort of challenge. If you’re okay with falling short like that, then go ahead. Do what you want.”

Ava flew up to the third floor landing, not wanting to discuss anything school related with Pepper. While, that wasn’t entirely fair. Truthfully, she didn’t want to discuss anything school related with anybody. School was the worst. 

She stomped into her room, and spotted the thick packets sitting on her desk. She shoved them aside and grabbed her music player instead. Then she flopped onto her bed in the wrong direction, so her feet were propped up on her pillows, and her head was resting on the silky goat fur that was attached to the goat currently curled up on the end of her bed. 

Ava had already tried to shove Frederick out several times, but he didn’t seem to be interested in sleeping anywhere else, and now she was used to it, so it didn’t really matter anymore. Now he just opened his eyes to bleat softly, and then closed them again. 

Ava popped in her earbuds, and blasted the volume up as high as it could possibly go. She’d get around to doing her schoolwork later, and she might even put some effort into it, but right now, she just really wasn’t in the mood.

***

Ava looked at herself in her full length mirror. She patted her hair down, and frowned. She didn’t like this cut at all. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, her hair was smoothly flowing almost all the way down her back. It was perfect except for the now green color of it. Then she grinned. Maybe she’d just make green her theme today. So she also had a perfect makeover a moment later, all in various tints of green.

She pressed a kiss to the top of Frederick’s head, then hurried down to the first floor. There were butterflies in her stomach, but she thought it would be a good idea to just ignore them. It was a fresh start. This was a good thing. Though just hanging around in the tower for the rest of her life currently sounded like a better plan.

Pepper was already waiting by the front door. “You ready to go?” Ava nodded. Pepper opened the door, and watched as Ava made her way to the car that was waiting. It had taken quite a few arguments, but they’d finally come to a compromise about the transportation situation. Pepper wouldn’t go, but Ava would still have to get a ride from Happy. That seemed fair.

Then Pepper suddenly hurried out before Ava could actually get in the car. “Wait, there’s something I forgot about.” She motioned for Ava to follow her a few feet from the vehicle, and then she spoke in a soft voice. “You know what a ‘secret identity’ is, right?”

Ava pretended to think about it for a moment. “That’s one of those things that Tony doesn’t have, right?”

Pepper nodded. “Yes.” She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I don’t want you to jeopardize any part of your future. So it’s probably best if you don’t say anything about Tony Stark being your father, or about the Obadiah business, or about your…” She sighed. “What did you do to your hair?”

Ava grinned. “Just showing off my ‘abilities’, or whatever. I thought you’d like it. I heard it’s real hip with the kids my age. I should have tons of friends in no time. Is there anything else I need to remember? Besides the fact that I’m a boring orphan with no talents?”

Pepper sighed. “It’s for your own safety, Ava. While the court records from the custody hearing are technically public record, you shouldn’t go around telling people who you are. Tony has a lot of enemies, and you of all people should know how eager they are to exploit him in any means possible.”

“Right… so can I go now?” Then she hurried into the car without even waiting for an answer. How was she supposed to make friends now? She was just going to be another awkward loner kid, invisible once more. Great.

Ava took her first steps into her new school, and looked around cautiously. It didn’t seem too deadly. Until she seemingly tripped over her own feet and went sprawling across the floor. She’d really been taking advantage of her powers lately, had taken to pulling her wings out just so she could sort of hover everywhere. It made her feel more graceful.

Ava was contemplating just curling up in a ball and crying for the rest of the day, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. A guy was kneeling next to her, gathering up the papers that had gone flying when she’d been acquainted with the floor. He handed the papers to her with a soft smile. “You must be new. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.” Ava’s heart started pounding in her chest, and she felt frozen in place. So she could take a man’s life but not talk to a peer? He stood up, sounding awkward. “Okay… I’m just going to…”

“Tony Stark’s my dad!” Shit! That wasn’t what she’d meant to say!

The boy looked puzzled. “Um, okay…”

Ava gulped. “I’m half robot?” 

“You know, I think I’m going to be late to class-”

“I have super powers?” She offered.

The boy shook his head. “Nice meeting you.” He turned to go, and Ava knew that she’d messed up. That was her chance to talk to a classmate like a normal human being rather than some oddity. He hesitated though, and turned back after a moment. He crouched down again. “Eh, I couldn’t just leave you sitting here, looking all pathetic like that.” He sighed, and held out one hand. “My name’s Hayden. I run track.”

Ava accepted his hand shake. “I’m Ava. I fly.” He looked like he was about to leave again, and Ava felt like bashing her head against the lockers. What happened to all of the smooth confidence that had been oozing out of her lately? Had it all oozed out and she had none left? She quickly looked up and down the hall, and saw that there was no one else there.

A moment later, she was up in the air, her back brushing the ceiling. Hayden’s eyes were as round as saucers. “Whoa…” Then she dropped back to the floor before anyone else could walk by.

Ava’s face flushed bright red. “Oh… I wasn’t supposed to show off today.” She sighed. “But um, the other parts were true too.”

Hayden chuckled. “Coolest new kid ever.” He looked at her curiously. “So if Iron Man’s really your dad-”

“He is,”

“-and you have superpowers, does that mean that you get to go out and fight bad guys and stuff? Because I’m not going to lie, that does sound super awesome.”

Ava smiled. “Yeah.” A loud bell rang, as a reminder that Ava was actually in school again, even if she’d forgotten the habits that came with being in school. “Um, you wouldn’t happen to know where chemistry lab three is, would you?”

Hayden nodded. “It’s right near where I’m going, I’ll show you.” The hallway was flooded with students a few minutes later, when Hayden pointed out the classroom that Ava was supposed to go into. “Wanna hang out at lunch? I’ve got one of the best tables.”

Ava grinned. “Sounds like fun.”

Then she walked into her chemistry class, and immediately knew that it was not going to be a fun wait at all. A few kids stared at her, mildly curious, the rest were looking down at their phones, not really interested in the new kid. There was an open seat, so Ava walked over and sat down.

The kid behind her tapped her back, so she turned to see what they wanted. It was a girl who looked tall and muscular. “Yo, your hair is awesome!”

Ava blushed. “Thanks. I just did it this morning.” She cleared her throat. After getting back into the groove of things with Hayden, she found that it was easier to talk to others, as long as they didn’t seem too intimidating. “I’m Ava. I’m new.”

“I’m Angel. And obviously you’re new. I would’ve noticed a cutie like you sitting in front of me all year.”

Ava’s eyes widened. This was vastly unknown territory to her. At her old school, she’d been so completely invisible and miserable that she’d never had the chance to consider anything. And then there was all that time spent running for her life, in a coma, fighting bad guys, trying to get memories back. There’d been no time then either. “Oh, I’m not… I don’t… I mean I can’t…”

Angel laughed. “Relax. There’s no reason for you to be so uptight. There’s mostly only friendly people around here. So where did you move from?”

“Uh… I was homeschooled.”

When Angel just grinned and kept talking, Ava relaxed into her seat. She hoped that the rest of the day would turn out as well as the first few minutes so far.


	57. Chapter 57

The three teens stared up at the Avengers tower. From where they were standing outside, right at the base, it looked ginormous. And two of the teens had a shared look of awe on their faces, while the third just grinned smugly. “See? I told you it looks impressive.”

Hayden put his hands on his hips. “Okay, sure, it looks cool enough. But that doesn’t really prove that you live here.”

Ava rolled her eyes, and led the other two inside. The guard looked at Ava, and she nodded that the others were with her. The guard let them all pass through to the elevator, which they all took up to the first floor of the Stark living quarters. They exited the elevator, and walked through the front door that led to the rest of the lived in floors.

“Good afternoon, Ava. How was school today?”

Hayden and Angel both looked around, trying to find the source of the pleasant British voice. Ava laughed. “That’s Jarvis. He’s the resident AI around here. If you need anything, then just ask him, and he’ll do whatever he can to help you.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, this is Hayden and Angel. I met them at school today.”

“I’m pleased to see you’ve actually managed to make some friends.”

Angel snorted. “I like this guy already.” Then she turned to look at Ava curiously. “So when do we get to meet Iron Man?”

Ava shrugged. “He’s away on a business trip right now. You might’ve seen something about him on the news? But I can show you something almost as cool.” And with that, she was suddenly flying up, and the other two teens stared at her in awe.

Angel grinned. “Hot, rich, smart, and has superpowers? What more could a girl possibly want?” 

Ava’s face turned a bit red as she landed down gently beside her two new friends. “Do you guys want anything to eat or drink?” They both shook her head. “Alright, then let me bring you up to my room.”

They went up to the third floor, and Ava let them into her room. Hayden took a quick look, then started laughing pretty hard. “Seriously?” Ava crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. He shook his head. “No, I’m not trying to be offensive or anything but I just… I don’t know what I was expecting, but I know that I wasn’t expecting a regular looking room with normal things hanging up on the walls. It just seems so ridiculous.”

Angel spotted the soft looking lump curled up at the foot of Ava’s bed. “Aw, do you have a dog?” Before Ava could answer, Angel reached forward to pet the furry back. Frederick turned to look at Angel in disbelief, and though her eyes widened in surprise, she didn’t jump back. “Well, I hate to break it to you Hayden, but not everything in this room is exactly normal.”

“This is Frederick. He’s my goat. He’s pretty cool when he’s not eating thousand dollar pairs of shoes.” Ava flopped down on her bed next to Frederick, and patted the open space next to her on her other side. Hayden and Angel both sat down. “So we said that we were going to work on homework, right? Maybe it would be best if we actually do at least a little bit of that.”

Hayden scoffed. “What kind of bizarre creature are you that you would actually want to study?”

Angel snorted. “You’re asking the girl with superpowers what kind of bizarre creature she is? I think that you’re the one with something wrong with you.”

Ava got up to shrug off her backpack. She unzipped it, and pulled out a bunch of papers. “This is all stuff I’ve got to do. Catch up work, or whatever.”

Hayden grabbed the papers, and let his arm drop quickly, like they were just too heavy to hold. He whistled. “I do not envy you. I guess you’re right. We really should at least work on something, right?”

Angel grumbled, but she did pull out some homework. Then she casually shoved Hayden off of the bed, and onto the floor. He gave her a dirty look, but instead of getting back up, just made himself comfortable where he was. 

Ava looked back and forth between her new friends with curiosity. “Did you guys already know each other before today?”

Hayden shrugged. “It’s not like we go to the biggest school there is. Pretty much everyone knows everyone, at least within the same grade as them. But it’s not like we’ve really talked much before.”

Angel pretended to look offended by that. “Hey, that is so not true. Remember what happened with the outdoor soccer goal?”

Hayden blinked, and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” with such a straight face that it was immediately obvious he was lying.

Before Ava got the chance to dig deeper and figure out what the hell they were talking about, Jarvis interrupted the moment. “Ms Potts has returned home and wishes to speak with you about the success of your first day back at school. She awaits you in the living room.”

Ava stretched as she headed to the door of her room, then glanced back at Hayden and Angel. She wasn’t used to having friends, so she wasn’t quite sure what the protocol here was supposed to be. “Um… do you guys want to meet my… Pepper?”

Hayden sighed. “Meeting Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries? This is too good to be true. It must just be some kind of torturously wonderful dream. Of course I’d love to meet her.”

Angel got up as well. “Well, I’m not going to stay in here by myself. That would totally make me look completely lame.”

They left Ava’s room, and started towards the elevator. Ava looked over at the balcony and grinned. “I’ve got a better idea, guys. Get over here.”

They obeyed with only slight hesitation, not sure why Ava didn’t want them to just take the elevator down to the first floor. They both looked at her uncertainly. She just grinned in response. Hayden tilted his head nervously. “Um, I can see that this overlooks the first floor. You’re not expecting us to just jump down, are you?”

Ava’s grin grew wider. “Not without something to ease the way down, of course.” She grabbed one wrist each from Angel and Hayden, and tugged them all the way to the railing. “Wanna experience the way that I like to go downstairs?”

Hayden realized what Ava was saying, and he pulled his hand back. “No thanks. I’ll just take the elevator. You guys have fun.”

Ava nodded, accepting Hayden’s response. Then she turned to Angel with one eyebrow raised. Angel returned that gleeful look. “Sounds like fun. Let’s do this.” Ava climbed up so she was perched on the railing, and Angel quickly followed suit. Ava turned so her back was facing Angel. “Like a piggy back ride?” Ava nodded.

Once Ava was sure that her friend’s weight was evenly distributed, she stood up straight, and took a small step forward. Gravity took over after that, and they were plummeting towards the ground. Just before they hit, Ava’s wings swooped out and caught the air, yanking them up a few feet. From there, Ava let them both drop gracefully down to the floor.

Angel was looking at Ava in disbelief. “Your wings went right through me?”

Ava shrugged. “I’ve discovered that what I do is basically make holograms. And holograms go through things. They only work as physical objects when I’m the one wielding them. Pretty cool, huh?”

Angel smirked, then started giggling. She pointed to something behind Ava, so Ava whipped around to see what was up. Pepper was standing there, her hands on her hips, looking annoyed. Angel politely held out one hand. “Ms Potts. I’m Angel.”

Pepper accepted the handshake, though she continued to look at Ava in irritation. “Really? After what we just discussed this morning?”

Ava shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t see what difference it really makes. Just because I’m… unique doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be allowed to have friends.”

“No one’s trying to stop you from having friends. But there’s no reason you need to use your gifts to gain your friends. And that’s not even the point. The point is that you made me a promise, and now you’ve broken it.”

Hayden walked over a moment later, having waited to see his friends land safely before getting in the elevator. “Ms Potts, hello. I’m Hayden.”

Pepper frowned. “Two people? Was breaking your promise for just one person not enough?”

Angel cleared her throat. “Ava didn’t mean for us to find out that she’s so different. We only learned because she had to use her abilities to save my life.” Pepper furrowed her eyebrow, but didn’t tell Angel to shut up. “I was dared to see how long I could stand on the edge of the roof before I chickened out, and I ended up losing my balance and falling. If it hadn’t been for your daughter, I would just be a splatter against the sidewalk right now.”

Hayden nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and I was just on the ground when I saw her go up. Your daughter’s a real hero, ma’am.”

Pepper let out a long sigh, and walked into the living room, where she sank down onto the couch. She looked up at Ava with something almost like pride in her eyes. “Well I’m disappointed you broke your promise, I suppose I would be more disappointed if there was something you could do to stop someone from getting hurt, and you chose not to. You can go back to whatever you were doing before. I’ll talk to you later, okay, Ava?”

The teens all hurried back up to Ava’s room. As soon as the door was closed behind them, Ava laughed. “I can’t believe we’ve known each other less than twenty-four hours, and you’re already lying for me!” 

Angel shrugged. “It’s the least I could do. You’re the most interesting thing to happen to our school in forever, so I kinda owed you for breaking up the boredom, anyways.”

Hayden sat down in Ava’s desk chair. “I just kind of caught up in the whole thing. Your mom seems nice though.”

An unhappy frown tilted Ava’s mouth down. “She’s not my mom.”

Angel shrugged again. “That’s cool. I live with my step-dad, so I totally know how you feel. But he’s still been the one to raise me, so I like to think of him as my dad when he’s not around.”

Ava shook her head. “No, it’s not- I mean, Pepper’s not like that. I’ve only known her for like two years.”

Hayden spun around in the desk chair a few times. “You’ve only known your dad’s personal assistant cum CEO for two years?”

Ava shook her head. “It’s a complicated situation. I’ve only known both of them for that long.”

Hayden scooted the chair a bit closer to Ava, looking intrigued. “That might explain how no one’s ever heard of you before. But how could something like that even happen in the first place?”

Ava hesitated, then decided that she’d already shared so much about herself in the short amount of time she’d known these two that a bit more wouldn’t really hurt. “I was kidnapped when I was a baby, before my dad even knew I existed. I was raised by really bad people, and I happened to bump into the famous Tony Stark last year. He took me in, and then I eventually discovered that I’m his biological daughter.”

Hayden swiveled again, and Ava couldn’t help thinking about the first time she’d been in this tower. When she’d easily hacked into the door that led to Tony’s workshop, not knowing at the time how she’d even done it. Instead of digging into his projects and being a nosy little spy, she’d simply sat down and started spinning around in his swivel chair. 

It may not have been that long ago, but to Ava, it felt like a lifetime ago. She was an entirely different person back then. Well, she was still in the transition from being a different person to being the person she is now. And she didn’t know Tony Stark nearly enough to trust him. 

Her hand shot out to grab the back of the chair and stop it’s movement before she could even think about it. When Hayden gave her an odd look, she gulped and tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t make her sound completely neurotic. “Um, wanna see something neat?”

Angel immediately rubbed her hands together like some kind of cartoonish villain with a devious plan. “Last time you said that, I was totally amazed. So I’m down. What else have you got?”

“It’s on a different floor. Come on.”

The trio took the elevator down to the fourteenth floor. When they got there, Hayden and Angel both looked around, wondering why it was so barren. There were rolled up plastic sheets, and a desks and furniture bits with dusty cloth sheets covering them. Ava shrugged at their looks.

They walked over to the large windows, and she pointed out what she wanted her friends to see. Angel smiled. “Oh my god, did you draw this? How did you do that? It’s incredible.”

Ava’s face turned pink. “Oh, it was no big deal. I mean, I drew it using a computer, which kind of feels like cheating considering how good with them I am.”

Hayden looked down at the faded red splotch on the concrete floor beneath them. “Oh my god- is that blood?” 

Ava laughed. “No. It’s wine. From the night Tony discovered that he should not be giving me alcoholic beverages, because I can’t keep the stuff down at all. I was so tipsy that I tripped over nothing and ended up spilling it all. By the time we were over our hangovers the next morning, the stains were set in stone, so Tony decided to leave them as a reminder to never drink again.”

Angel rolled her eyes. “Considering how many news stories you can find about Tony Stark getting into trouble yet again because he was thoroughly wasted, I’m surprised that you can’t hold your liquor. I thought that maybe it was a genetic thing.”

Ava shrugged. “Dunno. Either way, we try to keep the drinking around here at a complete minimum. He’s been sober for a while.”

The three of them all sank down onto the cold concrete. Hayden looked at Ava. “You’re really incredible. Sounds like you’ve managed to make the most out of a bad draw.”

Angel pulled out her phone. “Wow, there’s even great reception in here.” She sighed wistfully. “The perks of living with a billionaire tech genius.”

Ava looked up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, could you have U bring down our bags? I think we’ll be studying down here instead.”

“Of course, Ava. I’ll let you know when it’s time for dinner.”

Ava looked at her new friends with a smile. “So who wants to see what else I can do?” Angel and Hayden both grinned in response. It was nice to meet new friends.


	58. Chapter 58

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hayden and Angel are actually based off of characters from a video game I really like (I won’t say which one because then it’ll be really obvious who they’re based off of). And Ava will have plenty of time for romance in her future. Like when she’s an adult. Which’ll be only a few months in the fic since she’s already been seventeen for a while lol

“Ta-da!” Ava spread her arms out for added flair, like that would actually do anything to make the sight in front of them any more impressive than it was.

Hayden bit his lip, and shifted his weight awkwardly. “Okay, I hate to be the one to say it, but I think that you must’ve taken us to the wrong place.”

Ava turned around with a frown, then turned back to her two friends, looking a bit confused. “What are you talking about? This is the place I’ve been excited to show you guys for weeks.”

Angel snorted. “I think that what Hayden meant to say is that this place is an absolute dump. So it’s hard to tell whether you’re joking or not when you say that this place is magical to you.”

Ava pouted as she realized that they were actually insulting the place that she’d brought them to see for the first time. She crossed her arms over her chest, and turned her back on her friends.

Angel chuckled softly. “Hey, don’t be so upset about it. We’re not trying to be mean. But seriously, I think that this is the type of place you go when you want to get tetanus.” She paused for a moment, apparently deep in thought. “Hey, can you even get tetanus? I mean, you’re already made of metal, right?”

“No,” Ava scoffed, like Angel had just made a really dumb mistake. “I’ve got barely any more metal in me than anyone else, and it’s all up in my brain, not spread throughout my body. And anyways, you’re not going to get tetanus here. I’ll show you.” She hurried over to the swing set that looked like it was about to collapse any second, and jumped onto the seat. She began swinging back and forth, not caring how loudly the structure was squeaking. “The noise is what gives it character,” she explained even though neither of her friends had asked. 

Angel finally decided to take a chance and trust Ava. She plopped down onto the other swing, and began moving as quickly as possible. It soon became a contest between the two girls to see who could get higher and faster while swinging. Hayden just stood a safe distance away, and stared at the girls with his arms crossed over his chest, and an unimpressed look on his face. “This seems pretty unsafe. Are you sure this place is even supposed to be open to public access right now?”

Ava grinned. “Hayden, catch me!”

He shook his head, and took a few steps to the side. “No way, robo-brain. You’re on your own. I will not let myself be sued by Tony freakin’ Stark because I entered into an agreement that I would catch you and then failed to do so. I don’t exactly have millions of dollars to fork over when I lose, which I definitely would. You’re dad is one of the richest and most powerful guys in the world.”

Ava shrugged. “I’ve seen him dance around the kitchen in his bathrobe while making scrambled eggs. He doesn’t seem all that powerful to me.” Then Ava suddenly stopped swinging, and just sat there, tightly gripping the metal chains that held her swing up. It was obvious that her good mood had just evaporated. 

Angel couldn’t resist jumping off of her swing, and she stuck the landing perfectly. Then she walked over to Ava, and knelt down next to the girl. “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you mad that we made fun of this trash heap even though you like the place? Because if that’s the case, then I’m not really all that sorry.”

Ava shook her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just… I guess that he really is a powerful guy.” And Ava found herself thinking of the way that he’d made actual murder charges against her go away, even though she should’ve been tossed into a jail cell for at least the next thirty years.

Angel looked a bit uncomfortable. She clearly wasn’t used to having to deal with other people’s emotions, and wasn’t quite sure what to do. Hayden stepped forward, and knelt on Ava’s other side. “Hey, whatever’s wrong, you can tell us. I promise that we’re here for you.” He glanced at Angel uncertainly. “Right?”

Angel nodded. “Yes, absolutely. We’re here for you cutie. Whatever’s wrong, we’ll support you. If someone hurt you, we’ll beat them up,” she glanced at Hayden, and snorted. “Well, I will anyways. He might just kind of awkwardly stand there until the fighting's over.”

“It’s perfectly reasonable to dislike violent encounters!” Hayden shouted defensively. 

Angel and Ava both giggled at that, and Hayden narrowed his eyes, and stuck his tongue out at them. But he didn’t try to move away, which meant that he wasn’t really that upset. 

While Ava was happy to hear that she had her friends’ support, she knew that her problems went far beyond anything that they would be able to solve. And besides that, if they knew that Ava had actually murdered someone, she was sure that they’d be totally disgusted, and they’d never want to go near her again. Murder had to be at the top of the list of unforgivable things that one could do. 

Ava jumped to her feet. “You guys are right. This place is pretty bad. It’s probably going to be marked off to be destroyed soon. No one would want their kids getting hurt around here.”

Angel shrugged. “You never know. Some parents are pretty crazy these days. But if this place is so important, why don’t you just ask your dad to hire people to fix it up?”

Ava blinked a few times, like she’d never even considered asking her father for help with preserving the small playground. While she did come from a rich family, she still wasn’t used to being able to ask for money. But Angel was right. What was the point in having rich parents if she wasn’t ever going to use their money?

She nodded with growing excitement. “Yes! That’s perfect!” She pulled out her phone. “I could even call him right now if I wanted to-” 

As if on cue, the phone began to ring. Angel shrugged. “Maybe he was just thinking the exact same thing; about repairing this old dump heap.”

Hayden just looked at Ava’s hand in amazement. “That must be so convenient. You don’t have to worry about having pockets to carry your phone around in, because you can just have it in your hand the instant you want it.”

Ava blushed. “It’s not that cool.” Then she answered the call before either of her friends could respond to that. “Hello?” She frowned when she heard Pepper’s voice on the other end. She was being chewed out for not mentioning to Pepper that she had planned on making a stop on the way home, and Pepper was apparently freaking out. “Calm down, okay? It’s not that big a deal-”

Angel and Hayden both winced sympathetically. They knew what always happened when they tried to tell their parents to calm down. It wasn’t something that ever actually calmed the adults down. 

By the time Ava hung up on the call, and let go of the phone, her face was red, and she looked angry. “All they ever talk about is how they can’t trust me anymore. I messed up once, okay, maybe twice. Probably no more than three times, and they’re all over me about it. She can’t go five seconds without reminding me how much of a screw up I am.”

Angel frowned. “I doubt that that’s what she’s actually saying. Exactly what kind of mistakes did you make?”

Ava looked down at the ground. “I just ran away a few times. For their own protection, though!”

Hayden was already shaking his head disapprovingly. “They’re your parents. They’re supposed to be okay with being endangered if it means keeping you safe. And I bet your mom is only freaking out because she’s afraid. She probably thinks that you’re going to run off again.”

“Yeah, well maybe I should if I keep being treated with so little trust,” Ava mumbled.

Hayden put his hands on his hips and frowned. “And give them even more reason to not trust you? That wouldn’t be fair. If you want them to trust you again, you have to prove to them that you’re trustworthy. Which means that as much as you hate it, you have to follow their rules. Running away is pretty serious.” He bit his lip, and suddenly looked pretty awkward. “Why did you run away? Were they-?” He let his question hang in the air for a moment.

Ava quickly shook her head. “God no! I left to protect them.” She couldn’t tell them everything without them learning about the way she’d taken a man’s life, but she could at least tell them a little bit. “My dad’s a pretty important guy. He’s got a lot of enemies. One of them came after him with a lot of threats, and I thought that it would be easier on them if I just removed myself from the equation.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, even though her face revealed how obviously big a deal it was.

Angel chuckled. “Your dad is a freakin’ superhero. I’m pretty sure that he could’ve handled himself.” She sidled closer to Ava. “Besides, if you leave again, then you’d be leaving us behind.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And by ‘us’, I don’t mean Hayden and me. I mean the potential between you and me.”

Ava gently shoved Angel aside. “I should probably go home now. I may have kind of hung up on Pepper in the middle of a sentence. She’s probably going to be pissed.”

Angel nodded understandingly. “Alright, cutie. I’ll take Hayden home. Even if it won’t be the same without you.” Hayden followed Angel into her car, and Angel waited there until she saw Ava pull out her wings and fly away in the direction of the tower. Then she started the car. 

Ava flew above the car until they reached the spot that they would take separate routes home. She had no trouble finding her way to the tower, considering the way it stuck up above so much. She landed on the roof and went in through that entrance, hoping to avoid Pepper for at least a little bit longer.

“If you were trying to escape Ms Potts, then you should’ve just taken the front door,” Jarvis helpfully informed her. 

Ava swore under breath as she saw Pepper walk into the room, which used to hold yet another one of Tony’s excessively stocked labs. It had been dismantled a few months ago, though, after something blew up in there. Ava tried to look casual, like she hadn’t be hoping to slip in past her guardian. 

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest, and didn’t look amused at all. “Where have you been? I was worried sick about you. I thought that we were making progress. I assumed that if I let you come home without being driven by Happy, you’d appreciate the gesture and try to prove that you’re more responsible. Apparently I was wrong.”

Ava let her backpack slide off of her shoulders and thump onto the floor. “Maybe if you didn’t try to distribute my rights one at a time like I’m some kind of child earning a privilege-”

Pepper narrowed her eyes. “Have you not considered that if you tried to show us that you can be trusted, we’ll have an easier time trusting you?”

“I don’t need you to trust me!”

Pepper jabbed a finger in Ava’s direction. “So you think that you can just get all the benefits of having a family, but that you can separate yourself the moment you’re actually faced with something important? Because that’s unacceptable!”

It was on the tip of Ava’s tongue to just shout something out about how she didn’t need a family at all, or she at least didn’t need a mother. “I don’t…” she trailed off, though. Being mean would only hurt Pepper’s feelings, and then Pepper would probably say something hurtful back. Then they’d both storm away and hate each other forever. That’s not what Ava wanted. She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a few deep breaths. Then she spoke in the calmest voice that she could manage. “I don’t think that us yelling at each other is going to help with anything.” 

Pepper’s face softened. “I know. I just wish that I knew how to force you to understand that I care about you. I want you to be safe. I want you to have your freedoms, but there’s probably always going to be a part of me that’s afraid that the moment anything displeasing happens, you’ll be gone.”

Ava bit her lip and shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere. There’s really nowhere else I’d rather be. I know that you care. It’s just… it’s so frustrating to know that no matter what I do, you’re not going to be able to fully trust me anymore.”

“I’m sorry. I wish that i could change the way that I feel, but I can’t. But maybe we can come up with some compromises, okay? Like call me if you’re not going to be coming straight home from school, for starters.”

Ava tilted her head. “I can do that. And you have to trust that I’m wherever I say I am. You can’t have Jarvis tracking me down, or send Tony out to find me. I need to be able to have time to myself.”

Pepper nodded slowly. “That’s fair. And if we don’t hear from you in more than two hours, we’ll call you, and you have to answer.”

Ava scooped up her backpack, and clutched it to her chest. She felt ridiculous about the fact that she’d dropped it as if to prepare for a fight. Can we video-call Tony after dinner?”

Pepper smiled. “Why wait? We can just call him now. He should be up by now.”

After Ava dropped her backpack off in her room, they both headed down to the first floor of the living quarters, and went into the living room. “Jarvis, connect us to Tony via video call, please.”

“Of course, Ava. Just a moment.”

Tony’s face filled the screen a moment later, and he looked a bit confused to see Pepper and Ava. It was obvious from the background noise that he was flying around in his suit. “Sorry, now’s not really the best time. I was going to call to let you know that I might be here a little longer than I planned. It’s important Avengers business.”

Ava couldn’t stop herself from looking hurt. “Why didn’t you call me? I could’ve been there so quickly.”

Tony looked at his kid apologetically. “I’m sorry. But Pepper and I already agreed to keep you out of Avengers stuff. You know that. Listen, I’ve got to go. But I’ll talk to you later, I promise, okay?”

Ava shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. Thanks for your time, Tony.” Then she turned and stomped out into the atrium so that she could fly up to the third floor, and into her room. She knew that it wasn’t fair, to use her parents’ names against them, but she didn’t know what else to do. She knew that Tony was important, and busy a lot. But he usually still had a minute for her at least. 

Frederick was currently sitting in Ava’s desk chair, munching on whatever papers he’d found lying about. He looked up at Ava and continued to chew unashamedly. Ava pet Frederick gently. “At least you still like spending time with me, right?”

Frederick bleated once, then hurried away, still biting paper between his teeth. Ava sighed and sank down onto her bed. What did she need to do to prove herself trustworthy again? If only she knew. If she knew, in that moment, what was to come, she would’ve called Tony to apologize, and then she would’ve stayed as far away from the Avengers as she possibly could.


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just got a new haircut this past week, and I thought that it would be only fair to give Ava the same haircut
> 
> Also just as a fair warning, there is some vomiting so if you’re squeamish, you should stop reading after the asterisks and just read the note at the end for a summary.

“Alright, so we need to come up with a game plan here.”

Ava looked at Pepper with one eyebrow raised. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The CEO frowned. “Tony’s going to be home in a few hours. We need him to think that we were able to survive properly in his absence, or he might decide that he doesn’t care about his responsibilities, and he’ll never go to an important conference again, okay? So we’re going to tell him that everything went great while he was away.” She worried her bottom teeth between her lip for a moment. “But we can’t let him think that everything went too great, because then he’ll feel like we don’t need him anymore.”

Ava rolled her eyes, and pushed her chair back to stood up. “It’s not like anything totally horrible happened. So just tell him truthfully about the time he was gone, and let him make up his own mind about whether he still wants to go to important conferences or not. If you try to lie to him, he’ll just ask Jarvis about it. So I lost your trust. What’s new there?”

She walked out of the kitchen, and went back to her bedroom. She closed the door, and looked around the room. Tony was coming home in a few hours, but Ava wasn’t sure what she was going to say to him. She still felt hurt that he hadn’t had any time for her when she’d called, and then he’d never even made the effort to call her back.

On her desk was a small jar with pencils and such in it. She pulled out the small pair of scissors that was in there, and went into the bathroom. “Jarvis, I want you to turn the lights all the way up.”

“Of course, Ava.”

The brightness in the room flared up immediately, and Ava was able to see her reflection with perfect clarity. She took a deep breath, and held the scissors up to her head. “Jarvis, am I crazy?”

The AI sounded almost amused when he answered. “No more crazy than any of the Starks.”

Ava grinned. “Good.” She grabbed a clean towel out of the cabinet, and spread it out on the floor beneath her. With that, she started snipping away at her hair. Loose locks tumbled onto the towel, a few strands landing even further away. When she was done, her hair only reached half down her neck.

Then she grabbed her comb, and shifted her hair around so that it was parted further to the left. She blinked, and was holding a holographic razor a moment later. She raised that to her head, and in several even swipes, rid herself of all the hair on the left side of the part. The razor disappeared when she was done with it.

Ava looked at her new reflection in the mirror. She reached up hesitantly to run her fingers across the fuzz that now occupied almost half her head, and smiled at the feeling. It was different, in a good way. 

She cleaned up after that, and went back into her room. Frederick looked up once to assess her new style, and he made an unimpressed noise. She glared at him, before reaching up to touch her shaved half again. 

Ava flopped down onto her bed and pulled out her phone. It took a few minutes for the person on the other end to answer. “Hey cutie. What’s up?”

Ava’s face flushed, but not nearly as red as it had on the day they’d met. “Hey Angel. I just thought I’d let you know that I got a new haircut. I wouldn’t want you to be shocked or anything.”

There was a soft chuckle on the other end. “Then I can’t wait to see it on Monday. Unless you called to invite me over earlier than that?”

Ava shrugged. “I wouldn’t be adverse to you coming over. If you do, you may get the unique opportunity to meet the famous Tony Stark. Apparently he’s some kind of a big deal or something.”

Angel snorted. “Sure. I’ll be right over. In case you need an excuse to not talk to him after the way he blew you off, right?”

Ava shrugged. “That may or may not be a part of my thought process right now.” She gripped the phone a little tighter. “He should be here in a couple of hours, but I’d be the happiest girl in the world if you’d come over as soon as possible.”

“Aw, you always know just what to say to make a woman blush. I’ll see you in like an hour, okay?”

Ava nodded. “Sure. Thanks.” Then she hung up, and laid back on her bed. She threw one arm over her face, and groaned loudly. “I’m probably overreacting, right? I mean, I know that Tony cares about me. And I know that he’s been important on this business trip, and he hasn’t had any time to think about me. I know that. So I’m just being a brat, aren’t I?”

Ava was startled when Jarvis responded to her rhetorical question. She hadn’t even meant it to be asked of the AI. “I believe that you have the right to feel upset. But if that is the case, then you should talk to Sir, and reassure both of you that things are going to work out.”

The teen sighed. “I never realized that parent/child relationships would be so much work.”

“Cheer up, Ava. You’ll figure it out eventually. And if you don’t, then you’ll be in the same position as every other teenager in the world.”

Ava couldn’t help smiling. “Thanks Jarvis. You always know what to say to make me feel better.”

She got up and stretched her arms over her head, and tried to think about what she’d do while she waited for Angel to show up. She didn’t want to start a movie because she hated pausing halfway through, and Angel seemed to have the most bizarre taste in movies, so Ava was sure that she would want to watch anything Ava picked. 

Ava left her bedroom and walked over to the balcony. She looked down, and saw that Pepper was going back and forth across the room at a brisk pace, barking something into her phone. Ava almost felt bad for whoever was on the other end of that call. 

Then she grinned to herself. Getting reactions out of Pepper was usually a pretty fun past time. So she leapt over the railing and plummeted down in her usual style, only pulling out her wings when there was just a few seconds left before impact. She’d timed it out perfectly, so that her feet touched down on the floor just as Pepper was standing right there.

Pepper arched one eyebrow, but other than that, she didn’t show any surprise at Ava’s sudden appearance, or at the girl’s new haircut. Ava felt a bit disappointed by that. She left the first floor, going to the floor that Pepper and Tony lived on. It was basically a giant apartment shared by them, and normally, Ava was polite enough to not force an entry.

But she was bored, and in the mood to do some snooping around. When Jarvis wouldn’t open the elevator doors to that floor, Ava looked up at the ceiling pleadingly. “Come on, Jarvis. You know me. I’m not going to do anything too bad.”

The AI was resolute in his instructions. “You know you aren’t allowed in there, Ava.”

“I could make you let me in,” Ava suggested. 

“You could,” Jarvis agreed. “And then you’d be the one who would be at fault, not me.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Traitor.” She pressed her palm against the control panel of the elevator and closed her eyes. She hadn’t thought for a moment that Jarvis would let her in out of friendship. But she’d succeeded at getting his main focus into the same room as her. 

She wasn’t stupid enough to completely disable him, she knew how dangerous it was for the tower to not have any form of defense. So she just nudged him in the direction needed to open the elevator doors by telling him that they were on the third floor at the moment.

As soon as she had access, Ava slipped off the elevator. She looked around. She’d only been here a few times before, usually only for a few minutes. She wandered over to the personal bar that was there, and looked at the shelves of expensive liquors. Suddenly, she was curious about whether or not holographic alcohol would have the same effect as real alcohol. First, she’d have to know what effect real alcohol would have on her. 

Ava flew up and grabbed one of the bottles from the top shelf. It was above Tony’s eye level, so he was unlikely to notice anything missing. Holding the neck of the bottle, she walked into the bedroom. Over on one of the bedside tables was a book on parenting. She flipped through it quickly, and found that there were lots of pages that were bookmarked and highlighted. From the handwritten notes scrawled into the margins, she knew the book was Pepper’s. 

Ava unscrewed the cap of the bottle, and tilted it back so that plenty of it flowed down into her mouth. The water-like liquid burned her tongue and the back of her throat, and she coughed loudly, but she couldn’t detect any real flavor to it. She opened one of the drawers of the bedside table that must’ve been Tony’s, and underneath a bunch of random garbage, she found a familiar looking journal. The journal of Margie Bench.

Ava sat down on the edge of the perfectly made bed, and gulped down some more of the bottle she was holding. It didn’t seem to be really doing anything. Maybe she was immune to the effects of alcohol or something?

When she went to stand, the world began to spin around her, so she quickly sat back down. Ava decided that she must be dehydrated, and she decided that the bottle in her hands must actually just have water in it, since that’s what it looked like. So she gulped down even more.

The whole world was starting to look insanely blurry. Or maybe it was swirly? Ava couldn’t really tell. She got up, and had to blink a few times as she felt her stomach protest at the movement. She should probably leave Tony and Pepper’s place before Angel arrived. But first, she wanted just one more sip. It didn’t even burn her throat anymore. At least, she didn’t think that it did.

***

As soon as he stepped off the elevator, Tony was met with the beautiful sight of Pepper Potts. She’d been on the phone, but she said that she couldn’t talk at the moment, and she hung up. Pepper smiled, and pulled Tony into a hug. “I feel like it’s been forever. It’s only been a few weeks though. You’re here early. Have you been taking care of yourself?”

Tony nodded. “Very good care of myself. But not as good as when you take care of me. I came home early so I could ‘talk’ to you.”

Pepper rolled her eyes and took a few steps back. “You know-”

“So how were things here?”

Pepper put her hands on her hips. “You did not just interrupt me.”

Tony waggled his eyebrows. “And if I did?”

Pepper grabbed his tie, and pulled him onto the elevator. Without them even asking, Jarvis brought them up to their floor. The mood was broken as soon as they stepped off the elevator, and smelled the sour odor of vomit. Tony motioned for Pepper to stay back, but she just followed him further in. “Jarvis? Is there someone else in here?” Tony spoke softly.

“I don’t believe so Sir.” there was a soft whirring. “Ah, Ava is in your bedroom currently. You may want to get there quickly.” He sounded upset with himself at having been tricked by Ava into thinking that she was in her own room. 

Tony glanced at Pepper, then hurried into the bedroom, where the smell was stronger. Ava was on the floor, shaking like crazy, a puddle of puke next to her. There was a half empty bottle of vodka on the floor next to her. Tony narrowed his eyes as he knelt down, and when he pressed a gentle hand to his forehead, he found that she was freezing cold. “Shit! Jarivs, call 9-1-1!” He carefully maneuvered Ava so she was sitting up, leaning back against him, so she wouldn’t drown in the puddle.

He glanced closer to the bed, and saw the upside down journal lying there. “Sir, an ambulance should arrive in approximately four minutes.”

Pepper knelt down as well, and reached out to pick up the bottle. She frowned. “Maybe it’s genetics.”

Tony looked at her with a frown. “That’s uncalled for.”

She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t understand, though. Is she going to get arrested? Alcohol poisoning in a minor means underage drinking. That can’t be legal.”

Tony shrugged. “She’s not going to get arrested. If I could get her out of trouble for… worse things, then there’s no way I’d let her get in trouble for this.”

Pepper frowned as well. “Maybe that isn’t the solution. Maybe it would be best if she did get in trouble. How is she ever supposed to learn if you never let her hit rock bottom?”

Tony shook his head. “I had to learn the hard way, and it was not pleasant. I wouldn’t want her to have to go through that.”

“But going through that is what convinced you to change. So maybe you should think about it.”

Tony shook his head stubbornly. “No. She would hate us both forever.”

Before the argument could go further, Jarvis interrupted. “There is a guest waiting to be let in. Ava’s friend Angel. Should I send her away?”

Tony ran his hands through his hair. “Shit!”

Ava groaned, and her eyes fluttered open. She tried to pull away from Tony, but her movements were sluggish, and her limbs didn’t seem to be up to cooperating. She groaned again. “Wha ti’zit?” When there was no response she coughed a few times, and leaned forward, throwing up all over hers and Tony’s legs. 

Then she scooted away from him a bit. “Why ya got a… boo?” her words came out slow and laboriously, like it pained her to speak them. When it was clear Tony didn’t understand her, she moved her head just the slightest bit so that her eyes landed on the journal. 

Tony’s eyes widened a bit. “Why do I still have that? It’s kind of complicated.” He sighed loudly. “I met my kid for the first time when she was practically already an adult. And I know that there’s not really anything I could’ve done differently, but I just… I don’t know. When I read that, I guess it reminds me of where you came from. It’s stupid, but I just don’t want to mess up. But I’ve already failed you so many times.”

“‘s yer rentin boo,” she nodded like she’d just said something extremely profound. She leaned forward, like she was going to tell Tony some important secret, and then just puked again. All over his good suit. “I know ye dun have timme. ‘s’okay.”

The EMTs got there a few minutes later, and Pepper and Tony were pushed to the background while Ava was fussed with. During the commotion, Angel slipped inside, and looked at Tony in awe. “I never thought that I’d ever meet the famous Tony Stark. Or that he’d be covered in so much puke when I did.”

Tony frowned. “Who are you?”

“Ava’s friend.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Ava’s very best friend.” Tony didn’t even want to know what that meant. He crossed his arms over his chest. He was never leaving on another business conference again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tl;dr - Tony gets home early, Ava gets shit faced, Ava gets alcohol poisoning, Tony and Pepper argue about parenting tactics, Angel gets to meet Tony, Ava gets taken away via ambulance


	60. Chapter 60

“Damn girl. You’re always bitching about how you wish that your parents would trust you more and then you go and raid your dad’s liquor cabinet?” Angel looked like she had an equal mix of respect and amusement in her eyes. “No offense, but I think that all the restrictions they try to place on you are kind of warranted.”

Ava frowned. “I know, I know. It was so stupid for me to do that.”

Angel shrugged. “Hey, you aren’t seeing any judgements from me. You’re fine, no one’s hurt, and you’re dad is down one very expensive bottle of booze. There’s really nothing wrong with any of that as far as I can tell.” She sat down next to Ava, and put an arm around Ava’s shoulders. “Seriously, don’t act so angry about it. You are old enough to understand consequences, and grounding happens to be one that parents often like using.”

Ava sighed, and pulled away from Angel. “I just don’t see what the big deal is. They’re the ones who promised I could be a hero and then almost immediately took that away from me. And then when I do a normal teenager thing, they get mad. Like you said, nobody got hurt. And I offered to pay for a new bottle of that garbage with my own money. So why are they still so mad? That’s what I don’t understand.”

Angel was silent for a minute before scooching over so that she was closer to Ava again. “Don’t you realize how scary it must’ve been for them to see you like that? I know that you haven’t shared every second of your life, but you’ve told us a lot, and it sounds like in the past you’ve made some really questionable decisions concerning your own life. So when you do stupid shit, they can’t help thinking that you’re still in that same place, mentally. And it must scare them to think about the fact that they could lose you to yourself of all people.”

Ava frowned, and turned to look at Angel. “You’re not just talking about them, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I’m pretty annoyed with you for making my first time meeting Tony Stark being while he was covered in your puke. That’s just nasty.” She smiled to show she was joking. Then she reached down to gently take one of Ava’s hands. “Hey. Just know that if you ever need to talk about anything, I’m always here. I know that I’m not going to be able to stop you from doing stupid shit, but if you’re thinking of doing something stupid, at least let me know first so that I can get you out of trouble before you go too deep, okay? I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I understand that you’ve been through a lot of shit in your life, and you probably haven’t even told me half of it, but it seems to me like right now, at this moment, there are a lot of people who really care about you.”

Ava smiled teasingly. “Aw, are you saying you’d miss me?”

Angel nodded, still looking serious. “Yes, I am. There’s a lot of people who would really miss you if anything happened, and I’m one of them.” Ava’s face flushed red at that response. “Well, that’s enough about all that from me. I’m supposed to be the fun friend. And I’m sure that your parents are never going to stop lecturing you at this point.” She stood up, and pulled Ava up as well. “Come on. You may be grounded, but you happen to live in a frickin’ utopia. I doubt you’ll get too bored.”

Ava shrugged. “Well, my dad did say that other than school I’m confined to our living quarters, which is the top three floors. And since the second floor is off limits, that leaves first and third.”

The other girl snorted. “Oh that’s so horrible. Girl, just two floors of your house could fit like ten of my apartment in it. And there aren’t any rules against flying, are there? I don’t remember you mentioning that in your list of punishments.” There was a mischievous gleam in her eyes. 

Both girls hurried out of Ava’s room and over to the balcony. Jarvis spoke up like he’d been programmed to interrupt them right in the middle of their fun. “Ava, Ms Potts and Sir are waiting for you in the kitchen.”

“Thanks Jarvis.” She climbed up onto the railing, and motioned for Angel to climb on her back. They’d done this a few times before, and neither of them had gotten over the thrill of flying together yet. Ava sprang from the balcony, and did a few fancy loops through the air just for good measure. 

When they landed and started to head towards the kitchen, Angel hesitated uncertainly. “This is probably going to be some boring family discussion or something. I’m not sure they’d want me there for that. I’m pretty sure neither of your parents likes me.”

Ava scoffed. “What’s not to like? Besides, whatever we talk about in there I’d just tell you about afterwards, since you’re my best friend and all. We may as well save me the trouble of having to be the middleman by just letting you hear it all for yourself firsthand.”

Angel shrugged. “Alright, sounds cool to me.” 

They went into the kitchen, and Tony was sitting at the table, scrolling through something on his tablet while mumbling to himself, and Pepper was standing up, leaning against the table. She turned to gently take Tony’s tablet away when she saw Ava walk in, and he looked like he was going to argue until she gave him a stern look. 

Ava looked at the adults cautiously. “You guys already yelled at me a bunch last night, so if you’re planning on doing more of that-”

Pepper shook her head. “That’s not what this is about.” When Ava looked closer, she saw that Pepper almost looked… nervous? But when did Pepper ever look nervous about anything? She was basically the strongest, steeliest nerved person in the entire world. Her eyes flicked over to Angel, but she didn’t say anything about making the other girl leave. Instead, she just slouched her shoulders down, and looked Ava in the eyes. “Well, this is actually kind of awkward. Um, I’m sure you’ve realized it before in the time you’ve been living here, but Tony and I are, um. Well I’m,” she paused for a moment.

“His personal assistant?” Ava asked with the most innocent look she could manage. She didn’t know what was going on, but she knew that it was always fun to make things as difficult as possible for adults. 

Pepper closed her eyes to take a deep breath, and then she slowly let it out. She was obviously trying to avoid losing her temper. “I don’t know how much you’ve picked up on, but we’re kind of a couple.” 

Ava raised one eyebrow. “That’s the big news you wanted to share with me? I kinda figured that out awhile ago. I’m not stupid.” 

Pepper shook her head. “No, that’s not it. That was just supposed to be the lead in. Well, the thing is, for a while now, Tony and I have been thinking, just as sort of an afterthought really, that for the convenience of better access to each other’s medical records and whatnot, that maybe it would be easy to get a legal wedding. But now, well,”

Tony finally stood up, and gave Pepper some relief from the situation. “Would you be alright with it if Pepper and I got married?”

Ava stared at them both blankly for a moment before she started laughing loudly. She glanced back at Angel, and saw that her friend looked like she was fighting hard not to start laughing as well. Ava turned back to her parents. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Pepper raised one eyebrow. “So what does that mean? A yes? A know?”

Ava started laughing again like she couldn’t help it, and Angel stepped forward. She managed to get herself under control fairly quickly. “Ah, not to bust in on this familial moment or anything, but I can clear this up for you. Um, see, the thing is, Ava already thought, and of course we all just assumed that she knew what she was talking about when she said anything, that you guys were married. And to be honest, Hayden and I never really thought to question that.”

Pepper sagged down a bit like she’d just had a huge weight taken off her shoulders, while Tony just looked past Angel, at Ava. “So does that mean you’re okay with it or not?”

Ava grinned. “Yeah, that’s great. Do whatever makes you happy. But if you haven’t been together all this time, then what suddenly brought it up now?”

Pepper and Tony both exchanged a glance. Pepper cleared her throat. “Well, we were going to wait to tell you this part until maybe a couple weeks from now, but sometimes it’s easy to forget how smart you are.” She glanced down at her stomach very quickly, then back up at Ava. “You’re going to have a younger sibling in about seven or eight months.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “Wow. That’s great.” The enthusiasm from the thought of a wedding had worn away, and it was obvious that she didn’t sound quite as excited about the second announcement. But Ava realized that her response was making Pepper and Tony look upset, so she quickly forced herself to grin. “That’s great news! Sorry, you just startled me is all.” She looked over at Tony with amusement. “I thought you’d be too old for this sort of thing.” 

Tony rolled his eyes, and leaned forward to give Ava a noogie. “Don’t be a brat.”

Pepper smiled brightly. “We’re all going to be going through a lot of changes in the coming year, and all I can say is that I’m glad to be doing it with you here, Ava. You really did complete our family.”

Angel seemed to be the only one who picked up on the fact that Ava was still upset, and she stepped in front of her friend. “Oh, sorry, but I just remembered that we have a test in French tomorrow and we need to study our butts off if we want to have any chance of passing.”

Pepper nodded. “Alright girls. Have fun studying.” 

Ava and Angel took the elevator back up to the third floor, and they went into Ava’s room. Angel closed the door behind them, then flopped down on the bed, and patted the empty space next to her so Ava would sit down as well. “Alright, spill. The moment she mentioned there’d be a new baby around, you totally closed yourself off. What’s wrong?”

Ava shrugged. “Nothing. A baby is great, and I’m so happy for them.” 

Angel sat up and turned so she was directly facing Ava. She gently cupped her hands on Ava’s cheeks, and held Ava’s head so that their eyes were meeting. “What’s wrong, Ava? Don’t make me tickle you, because you know full well that I will.”

Ava sighed. “It’s nothing.” At Angel’s doubtful look, she frowned. “Alright, it’s something. It’s not really that big a deal, and I don’t want to interfere with their happiness. But why do they need a baby?”

“What do you mean?”

Ava closed her eyes. “I don’t know. I guess I just mean why do they need another kid when I’m right here? Am I not good enough? Do I not ‘complete the family’ the way that they say I do? Have I screwed up so many times that they just want a kid who’s good? Did they finally realize how damaged I am, and hope that they can raise the next one right?” She was breathing in and out rapidly, and Angel frowned. 

Angel leaned her head forward so that both of their foreheads were touching. “Hey, don’t think of it like that, okay? I know that I can’t even begin to imagine what your life has been like. But those aren’t the reasons that they’re having a kid. Okay, so admittedly, I can’t tell you for sure. For all we know it was just a happy accident. Or maybe there was something more to it than that. It isn’t really for me to say. If you feel like this, why don’t you just talk to them about it?”

Ava sniffled, and she didn’t even know when she’d started crying. Her voice kept catching in the back of her throat as she tried to hold in tears. “I don’t know. I’m afraid of what they’d say. What if I’m right?”

Angel smiled gently, and she raised one hand just a couple inches to tuck a stray strand of Ava’s hair behind her ear. “Trust me, cutie, no one could possibly look at you and not think that you’re the most amazing thing ever. Nobody could ever want to replace you, or think that you aren’t good enough because you’re absolutely perfect. I promise.”

Ava opened her eyes, and seemed to realize for the first time just how close her face was to Angel’s. She started to pull away, but Angel didn’t move her hands. She sniffled again, and smiled awkwardly. “Um, thanks. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.”

Angel had a serious look on her face. “Friend? Or maybe something different?” She subtly moved her face even closer, so both girls were breathing the same air.

Ava furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Yeah. I mean what else is there?” She chuckled nervously.

Angel dropped her hands back to her sides, and back away. “I’m sorry. I just thought that- eh forget about it. No worries.”

Ava didn’t want to just forget about it. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but when Angel had been that close, it had felt sort of right. “I really don’t understand.” 

There was a pause, and then Angel tilted her head curiously. “Have you ever kissed anyone before?” 

Ava shook her head. “No. At my old school I was terminally invisible to literally everybody, and the past couple of years have been a wild ride, and I haven’t been around other kids my age since I started school and met you and Hayden. Why?”

Angel blinked a few times. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, and then she just giggled instead. Finally her ability to speak returned to her. “Oh my god, you are so freakin’ adorable!” She giggled some more. “Cutie, that was a moment where I kinda thought it would be a good idea to kiss you.”

Ava’s face turned bright red almost instantly. “You did? But why?”

She sounded so confused, and Angel couldn’t help the fond look on her face at Ava’s confusion. “Because I find you insanely adorable basically all the time and I really can’t help liking you. But whenever I think we’re having a moment, you always prove me wrong. But now I realize that you never even noticed our moments.” She laughed some more. “You don’t have to kiss me, Ava. I’m just putting it out there that that’s an option if you’re ever feeling up to it. And of course you have to like me back or it doesn’t count! I refuse to let your first kiss be an experiment or whatever.”

Ava looked at her friend like she’d just grown a second and third head while announcing that she was running away to join the circus. “You like me? Like different than a friend?”

“Yes. I believe that that’s what I just said. But maybe at the time of that confession I didn’t know how thick your skull seems to be.” She laughed some more. “You’re something else, Ava.”

Ava stayed sitting where she was for a few minutes. There was so much going on. Tony and Pepper weren’t actually married but they were planning on getting married soon. They were going to have a baby. And Ava’s best friend liked her different than as a friend. The world felt like it was going absolutely insane.

Angel didn’t look uncomfortable or disappointed, or any different than she ever did, but she did seem to be slowly inching towards the door. Ava suddenly stood up. “Wait, don’t go. Obviously I like you as my friend. But how would I know if I liked you as different than a friend too?”

Angel shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it, weirdo. It’s just something that you know. I guess maybe your circumstances are a little different and you were never talking about what it’s like to like someone. And I suppose that you’ve never really had many good examples. Your dad is one of the most emotionally constipated guys I’ve ever met, and before that, well. Alright, so think about it like this. Hayden is your best friend too, right?” Ava nodded. “Well, when you think about him, do you ever get a warm feeling inside you that just feels right?” 

Ava nodded again. “Yeah. It feels like that when I think of either of you. You’re both such incredible friends, and I don’t know how I ever managed to survive without you.”

Angel sighed. “Alright, bad example. Well, when you think of me and Hayden, which one of us do you think you’d rather… I don’t know. Live in the same room and take care of a dog together or something?” Ava looked confused, and Angel shook her head. “Scratch that. Just think about it really simply. Do you want to kiss me or not? And you have to answer that before you try anything funny.”

Ava frowned. “I don’t really know what a kiss is supposed to feel like. But if I was going to kiss anyone, I think I’d want it to be you.” 

Angel leaned back against the closed door. “Sure thing cutie. I already confessed my feelings though which means that this one is on you to make the move. And only if you want to.”

Ava nodded, and she made her way over to Angel. Her heart was suddenly pounding so hard that she thought it was going to beat right out of her chest, and her palms were itchy with sweat. Ava took a deep breath, then stood on the tips of her toes. She closed her eyes and moved her face in. 

She would’ve completely missed if Angel hadn’t provided a course correction. A moment later, Ava moved back. “Was that what a kiss is supposed to feel like?”

Angel shrugged. “Depends on whether you liked it or not.” There was a twinkle in her eyes. 

Ava smiled. “Maybe we need a few more tests to find out for sure.” 

Angel grinned. “I’m down with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shouldn't have made two chicks who're dating have names that start with the first letter, but it's too late to go back and change it all now haha


	61. Chapter 61

Ava held out a cup of steaming coffee. “Fresh from the pot. Just for you.”

Tony nodded towards an open spot on the table he was currently working out. “You can just put it down there.”

Ava frowned for a moment, then took a few steps closer. “Dad. When are you ever too preoccupied for caffeine?”

He mumbled a few incoherent words before Ava could actually understand what he was saying. “This is very important stuff. No time to stop.”

Ava’s eyes flicked towards the hologram in front of Tony that he was currently spinning and scribbling calculations over, and then erasing and writing new calculations. She tilted her head curiously as she put the coffee mug down on the table. “Well, I know that I’m not the smartest person in the room. But maybe if you explained what you’re working on, I could help you?”

Tony shook his head, still not turning to actually look at Ava. “No that’s okay. I prefer to work alone.”

Ava pressed her lips together in a flat line. She took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out. She understood that Tony worked best on his own. This probably had nothing to do with doubting Ava’s capabilities. Nope, she wasn’t even worried about it. “Sure. I understand. Just make sure that you get something to eat within the next couple hours. You don’t want to face Pepper’s wrath, do you?” Tony mumbled something that mostly involved numbers, so Ava wasn’t even sure if he’d heard her or not. 

She rolled her eyes and pressed a kiss to the top of Tony’s head. She grabbed the empty mug that was there from when Ava had delivered it earlier, and was glad to know Tony at least had something in his stomach. Then she turned and left his workshop. She hadn’t seen Tony this intensely involved in a project in a really long time. It must be something important. And of course if it was something important, it was for the best that Ava didn’t try to help anyways. She’d probably only mess things up.

Pepper was in the kitchen when Ava walked in to put the mug into the sink. She was talking on the phone with someone. Ava quickly put the mug down then hurried out of the kitchen. She knew that it was very childish and immature, but she’d been actively avoiding Pepper ever since the baby announcement a couple of days ago. Despite what Angel had said, Ava knew that she didn’t want to talk with Pepper about her feelings. That would just make things awkward, and it would make her look pretty ungrateful. 

Ava flew up to the third floor so she could watch some tv in her room. “Jarvis, has there been any new footage of Spiderman?”

There was a pause, and then the AI responded. “There has, Ava. Shall I play them for you?”

She nodded. “That would be nice, thanks.” The tv changed to a prerecorded clip about Spiderman. Ava scooted forward on the edge of her bed so that she would be a little bit closer to the television. 

_“I’m Darryl Williams, and I’m here on the scene now as Spiderman faces off against a bank robber. Seems to be an ordinary human, but either way, with Spiderman here, we know we’re safe. If you watch closely, you can see him attempting to talk to the robber, oh, and he’s webbed him! Another successful day for New York’s own hero! Hang on, let me see if I can get close enough to get a word-”_ The reporter moved to where Spiderman was handing the robber over to the police, waving his microphone around wildly. _“Spiderman! Spiderman! Do you have any comments to make on this crime that you’ve managed to stop?”_

 _“All I can say is that I’m needed elsewhere. Sorry to disappoint.”_ He laughed awkwardly before shooting out some webs so he could swing away from the bank.

Ava sighed. “Jarvis, I’m not just imagining it when I suspect that Spiderman’s a kid, am I?”

Jarvis responded with his typical attitude. “I cannot say for sure as I have no information on Spiderman’s identity that I can share.”

Ava started to roll her eyes, and then she jerked her head up. “Wait, what? No information that you can share? Does that imply you have information that you can’t share?” She jumped up to her feet. 

“If you hack into my systems to find this information, I cannot imagine that Sir would be pleased, and I can assure you that I definitely will not be.”

Ava sighed, and her shoulders slumped down. “I know. I just wish I knew who he was so I could go talk to him. If there’s one kid superhero running around and doing just fine, then that seems like solid evidence that I should be allowed to do the same. I would just sneak out and come up with some cool secret identity, but there’s that whole stupid trust thing.”

Jarvis almost sounded like he was smiling. “I’m sure that Sir would be happy to know you care to earn back his trust.”

Ava flopped down on her bed, and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m sure that right now nothing will make him happy other than figuring out the answers to whatever project he’s working on. I’d ask you to tell me what he’s working on, but I’m sure it’s all beyond my comprehension.”

It took a moment for the AI to respond to that. “You aren’t giving yourself as much credit as you’re due, Ava. You have already proven yourself to be smart in all senses of the word, other than when it comes to common sense. You are far more intelligent than most who have entered this tower.”

Ava shrugged. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter how smart I think I am, my dad knows that I would be incapable of helping him because of the large gap in our IQs.” Ava suddenly sat up. “Hey Jarvis, where’s the most recent reported sighting of Spiderman? I’ll just find him myself!”

“The most recent report is from Twitter; @maisyforever tweeted ‘Barefoot in the park with Spidey! #superhero sightings #what a sweetie’ today at 11:24 am.”

Ava glanced down at her watch. It was 11:45 now. It was possible that he could still be there if she hurried. She quickly got the address, and hurried downstairs. Pepper still seemed to be occupied on the phone, and with Tony in this state, he was bound to stay in his workshop for several hours more, if not several days. Ava glanced up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, if anyone asks, let them know that I went out to hang with Angel.”

Jarvis sounded as sassy as ever when he responded. “Is that where you are going?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “If it makes you feel better, then yes, I’ll go hang out with her.” She didn’t mention that she’d hang out with Angel after finding Spiderman. 

She went up to the helicopter back on the roof, and let out her wings. It was the fastest way to travel. She flew straight up into the clouds, so that she’d be too high up for anyone on the streets to spot her and think anything of it. She flew as fast as she could towards the park, hoping to find Spiderman chilling around, as unlikely as that seemed. 

It was quickly obvious that there was no one in a bright red and blue costume, as she could tell even without getting closer to the ground. She was just going to turn around and head back home, but then she could hear screams coming from nearby, and with a small frown, she went to investigate. 

There was a woman trying to keep hold of her purse even as two men were pulling it away from her, one of them holding a gun. Ava’s frown deepened. People were just so sickening sometimes. Even if she called the police, they probably wouldn’t get there in time. 

So Ava covered her face with a holographic mask, and she pressed her wings tightly against her body so that she could barrel down right towards the fray. Before any of the three people could notice her, Ava landed right on top of one of the men, knocking him to the ground, and she quickly swung a holographic baseball bat at the other man, sending him flying back as well. 

Both men were lying on the ground, groaning loudly, and Ava glanced at the woman. “Are you okay?” When the woman continued to stare at her, Ava rolled her eyes. “Alright. Well I’m going to assume that you’re alright, and also you should probably call the police to come and pick these guys up before they get up and go terrorize someone else.” 

The woman looked at Ava again, her eyes wide, and then she turned to quickly scramble away. Ava shrugged at the strange behavior, and began to fly back up to go hang out with Angel or something. When she was high enough to be level with the rooftops, she heard someone call out to her. “Hey! Not bad, but next time try not to scare the person you’re saving!”

Ava whipped around to see none other than Spiderman himself standing on the edge of the roof. She gently dropped down on the roof next to him. “Sorry if I took a job away from you.”

He shrugged. “Nah, it’s cool. I was just gonna go web those guys down. Give me a minute.” He dropped down into the little alley, and Ava peered over the edge of the roof to watch as he made sure that the muggers were secured tightly to the ground. She put her wings away for the moment. Then he shot his webs up next to Ava, and came flying up to land down next to her again. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. So who’re you? And where did you put those wingy things of yours?”

Ava had been looking forward to meeting Spiderman, and she let the mask around her face disappear. He seemed a bit surprised to see it happen. Then she made her wings come back out. “They’re not some weird technology. They’re a part of me. But that’s not important. I was looking for…” she trailed off when she realized that Spiderman wasn’t paying attention. He’d walked around behind her, and cautiously reached forward towards one of her wings in a silent plea for permission. Ava rolled her eyes. “Be my guest.”

When his hand went right through the wing, he jumped back in surprise. “Woah. That’s incredible! Who are you? I’ve never seen you around before. And no offense, but that display looked kinda like you aren’t used to this. Well, not the fighting part. That was really impressive. But the interacting with the civilian part, you could definitely use some work on.” He hesitated for a moment. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to leave my mask on. I’m sorry, I know it’s a little unfair since you already took yours off.”

Ava shrugged. “I don’t care about that. I was just looking for you because I want to know how old you are.”

Even through the mask, he obviously looked a bit surprised. “Um, that’s a bit random. Why do you want to know?”

Ava sighed, and reached up to run one hand through her hair. “Because I’m seventeen, and I’m going to be eighteen soon, but my dad doesn’t want me to be a superhero. I thought that if I could use Spiderman as proof that even young heroes can be successful, he might change his mind.” She shook her head. “I guess that was a pretty stupid thought.”

He reached forward to grab Ava’s hand. “Hey. If you’re willing to go with me to a safe place, I can show you who I am. And maybe give you some pointers, if you want. You seem capable enough, and that wing trick is so freakin’ cool. See my family doesn’t know about me being Spiderman. They don’t even know that I have powers that make me different than most people. For you it might be harder to hide if your dad already knows about what you can do, but I’m sure there’s some way we could work around that.”

Ava frowned. “I mean, I know my dad doesn’t want me fighting aliens and giant robots and stuff. But really what’s the harm in fighting off regular people? It’s basically just community service.” She looked around to see what direction would be best to go in. “So how about you web to wherever, and I’ll follow in the sky?”

Spiderman paused for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. Make sure you pay close attention because I move pretty fast. I have to if I don’t want to lose momentum and fall.”

Ava smiled. “If I knew where we were going, I’m sure I could get there way before you.”

Spiderman chuckled. “Alright, next time we’ll race. And we’ll see who can move faster. For now, just try to keep up.”

He took off, and Ava shot up into the air high enough that she wouldn’t be seen by all the people on the ground. She even saw Spiderman stop occasionally to look around and find her, and at those times, she dipped down just a bit so that he’d know she was still keeping up with him just fine. 

Finally they stopped in a ratty broken down looking neighborhood. There was an old warehouse, and the only way in was apparently a broken window on the roof, based on the way that Spiderman shot himself up there, and then dropped through. Ava glanced around to make sure there weren’t any prying eyes, and then she dove down, straight into the window. She put her wings away once she was inside, and free fell almost all the way down before pulling her wings back out to catch herself with. 

She raised one eyebrow, and Spiderman laughed. “Neat trick.” He hesitated for a moment, then reached up to the back of his head. There was the sound of a zipper being undone, and then he pulled the mask off, revealing a boy who looked to be around Ava’s age, if not a bit younger. He held out one hand. “I’m Peter.”

Ava accepted the handshake, and then took a second to wonder if it was really wise to share her real name with this guy. But he was a hero, and there was no reason he’d be able to find her again just based off of a name anyways. “I’m Avalon. But literally everybody calls me Ava. I can’t believe I’m actually meeting Spiderman in person. This is incredible!”

Peter nodded. “I don’t even know who you are, but just based off what I’ve seen of you so far, I feel the same way about you. Is the wing thing your only trick? Well it can’t be because of the mask. So what else can you do?”

Ava grinned at Peter’s excitement. “You sound kind of like my dad right now. And I can do a lot of things. They all come from the same ability though. I can make holograms of literally anything that I can imagine, and it will only function as a solid object when I wield it.” A big holographic ice cream cone appeared in her hand. “And if I happen to lose contact with it, it’ll disappear.” She let go, and the coin disappeared completely. “But I think it’s a pretty neat talent. What about you? Can you actually shoot webs or is that a mechanical thing?”

Peter rolled up the edge of one sleeve to show off the little silver dispenser that was pointing outwards. “They’re mechanical. Made them myself. My speed and strength and healing factor are all from my body, though. So where did you get your powers from? I think I would’ve heard about it if any cool superhero making events had gone down,” he joked.

Ava looked down at her hands. “Well technically I was kind of born with this power. But I didn’t really learn about it until about two years ago. Turns out I’ve got a few more wires in my head than other people. Like literal metal wires. Half my head is occupied with a motherboard instead of a brain.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “So you’re like… a cyborg, then? That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard! My powers just came from being bitten by a nasty little spider. Hence the name. But oh man that’s so cool. So you’ve always been part robot, then? Do you have any metal under your skin? How did you find out about your powers two years ago if you’ve always been like this?”

Ava laughed, though she did feel slightly uncomfortable with the line of questioning. “Hey, slow down, we’ve got plenty of time to talk. Since we already know each other’s names and faces, we could even go somewhere more cozy. Not that there’s anything wrong with this abandoned warehouse, of course.”

Peter nodded. “Alright.”

Ava tilted her head. “I’m not mean enough to ask you where you live so we can go there. But we can go back to my place if you want. We’ll just have to get there the normal way though, because I wouldn’t want you to accidentally give away your identity, and also because my dad doesn’t exactly know how much I’ve been using my powers outside of the house. I know that it’s asking a lot to trust the person you just met, so it’s up to you. There’s always plenty of public libraries and stuff to hang out in.” 

Peter stopped to think about it for a moment, and then he shrugged. “I can’t really see the harm in it. I am pretty strong.” He pretended to flex his muscles for a moment. “Just look away for a moment while I change.” 

Ava smiled, and did as she asked. She was excited to be able to talk to Spiderman of all people. He was great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it just occurred to me that these two young heroes have the potential to be good friends. I’m leaving it up to you guys to picture whatever Spiderman you want here. And don’t worry, there won’t be any sort of cheating coming from anyone. They’re just gonna be super pals haha
> 
>  


	62. Chapter 62

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually haven’t seen CA:CW or Spider-Man Homecoming, so I’m not really sure of much about the new spiderman. But since you seemed very excited about that idea, I shall try my best to deliver him. If the interactions between him and Tony, or his personality in general, seem off, it’s because I’m working completely blind on this one haha. If it’s really awful let me know and I’ll go back and change it to a different spiderman.
> 
> In case you guys haven’t noticed yet, I often shape bits of my story around the feedback and comments that you guys give haha. Also I guess in my timeline CW and AoU never happened since this is supposed to be today and Peter is already 15. Hope no one minds me cutting out those two rather important bits (though Ultron would go down pretty quick against Ava haha).

As they got closer to the tower, Peter started looking around more, obviously trying to figure out where they were going. Ava pointed out the cab window. “We’re going there.”

Peter seemed to look almost relieved when Ava pointed to a random building about a block away from the Avengers Tower. She just didn’t want the cab driver to know that she was associated with the Avengers in any way, since she knew that that would be dangerous. Her face had already been plastered all over the news when she was declared to be officially the daughter of Tony Stark, but that didn’t mean she wanted to go around giving people reminders. 

Ava wasn’t a stupid person, and she knew that there could be serious repercussions to too many people figuring out who she was. Her dad had built up a lot of enemies, both as Tony Stark and as Iron Man, and Ava definitely didn’t want to be caught in the middle of any spats.

When the cab stopped, Ava handed the cab driver his money, and watched as he drove away back the way they’d come. Peter looked up at the large apartment building they were in front of. “So you live here?”

Ava shook her head. “Nope. Come on, we’re almost there.” She grabbed Peter’s wrist, and tugged him in the direction of the Avengers Tower. When they were standing just outside, she gestured to it. “This is where I live.”

Peter had a funny look on his face. “Are you sure?”

Ava laughed. “Yes, I know I seem crazy right now, but I’m sure that this is where I live. Come on.” She pulled him inside, and over to the private elevator that was blocked off by a guard. The guard nodded once, and stepped aside to let Ava and Peter through. They got inside, and Ava looked up at the ceiling. “To the penthouse, Jarvis.” 

The elevator started moving up, and Ava just figured that Jarvis hadn’t bothered responding because he was busy focusing on something elsewhere. Peter leaned back against the railing lining the inside of the elevator. “Penthouse, huh?”

Ava nodded. When the elevator stopped, they walked out into the first floor of Ava’s home. “This is it. I’m on the third floor. We’ll have decent privacy there. We could take the elevator, but I know a much more fun way up.” She started to head towards the living room, where the balcony of the third floor was overlooking. 

Peter followed her, looking slightly dazed. As they walked, Tony walked past them in the opposite direction, looking slightly distracted by something on the tablet he was holding. “Hey Ava. Peter.” he muttered while still walking forwards and staring at the electronic screen in front of him.

Ava paused in her walking, and Peter walked right into her back. Had she heard that right? Tony had clearly just addressed Peter by his name. How was that possible? Tony seemed to realize that at the exact same moment because he came to a sudden halt. He slowly turned around to look at the two teenagers, and he looked slightly perplexed. 

Peter looked back and forth between the two Starks. He let out an awkward little laugh. “Um, haha, what?”

Ava raised one eyebrow, then nodded towards Tony. “That’s my dad. How do you know him?”

Peter reached up to scratch the back of his neck. “He’s kind of my mentor. With the whole superhero gig.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “You know that he’s Spider-Man?”

Ava shrugged. “Sure. He knows about my powers too, though I’m not a superhero, of course.”

The three of them all stared at each other for a long minute, trying to let all the new information settle in. Tony put his tablet down on the nearest table. “So what’re the two of you doing here together? You don’t go to the same school, so how’d you meet?”

Ava frowned. “I wasn’t intending to go against anything you said, but there was someone in trouble, and I didn’t know that Spider-Man was so close that he could’ve taken care of it himself.” Before Tony could respond, she remembered one of the reasons she’d wanted to meet Spider-Man in the first place. “And how is this fair at all? Peter’s just a kid too, but you’re going so far as to mentor him, but you won’t even let me go out and do heroics?”

Tony ran a hand through his hair, then walked over to the couch to sit down. “It’s not about your age, Ava.”

She narrowed her eyes. “So what is it then? You don’t think I’m strong enough? Smart enough?”

He quickly shook his head. “No, of course I don’t think that!” He glanced at Peter, then looked away awkwardly. “Couldn’t we talk about this later?”

Ava let out a soft sigh, then nodded. “Yeah. You better make something good for dinner if you’re going to have an emotional talk though.” Then she grabbed Peter by wrapping her arms around his waist. “This is the easiest way to carry people who weigh more than me.” She pulled out her wings, and flew them up to the third floor, where she gently deposited Peter onto the floor. Then she let go of him and took a few steps back. “Sorry, I realize that I probably should’ve asked first.”

Peter smiled. “It’s alright. But I didn’t mean to get in the middle of you and Tony. I mean, I knew he had a kid, since everyone knew based on the whole custody trial and all, but somehow I never really thought of you as a real person. No offense or anything,” he quickly added. “I just mean that that incident seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and he’s never mentioned you in any official capacity since the trial, you know?”

Ava nodded as she led Peter towards her room. “I get it. He doesn’t want me to be at risk just because I’m related to him.”

Peter tilted his head. “So have you secretly been raised by Tony Stark your entire life and no one else ever caught on?”

That brought a frown to Ava’s face as she thought of how she had been raised. “No. It’s kind of a long story, but basically I was kidnapped as a baby by a couple, and they weren’t exactly great people. Then I happened to meet my dad and we hit it off without even knowing we were related. He offered me a place to stay, and I’ve mostly been here ever since.” Peter got a funny look on his face, and even though Ava could just tell he was going to say something stupid, she couldn’t help giving in and asking anyways. “What?”

“Well,” Peter looked slightly to the side so that he wasn’t meeting Ava’s eyes. “I know that Tony really loves all his robots and stuff. And you said that you’ve got robotic bits in you like a cyborg, so-”

Ava quickly shook her head. “Ew, no, what is wrong with you?” She shook her head again, trying to shake out that mental image. “Well, I’m traumatized for life now.” She could see that Peter had been joking, though he did look curious still about the origins of her powers. And she had told him that she’d explain more once they were in a private place, so it was really only fair for her to start talking. “Well my non-human additions came from a not so nice guy. He did all kinds of freaky experiments on pregnant women to try and create a super weapon. He found up with me instead, and then that’s when I was kidnapped.” She shrugged. “It’s not really that interesting of a story. What about you? Where’d you get your powers from?”

Peter smiled. “Like I said before, I got bitten by a nasty spider. That’s literally it. Definitely way less interesting than your story. And I’ve got the feeling that there’s a lot more to your story then you’re saying. Which is completely fine, considering the fact that we just met like an hour ago. I still can’t believe that you’re Tony Stark’s daughter. He’s always been an idol of mine.”

Ava flopped down on her bed. “Considering the fact that you built those nifty little web shooters of yours, I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that you’re a science geek too?”

Peter chuckled, and he sat down on the floor. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. What about you? Does science run in the blood?”

Ava shrugged. “Sort of. I mean, did you not see the holograms I can extend from my body? That’s either magic or science haha. As for understanding all that sciencey mumble jumble, I’m alright.”

Jarvis’s posh voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. “You give yourself far too little credit, Ava.”

Her cheeks flushed pink. “Were you listening in on our conversation? That seems like a serious breach of privacy.”

“I was simply intending to deliver a message, and I happened to overhear your statement.” There was a pause, and then Jarvis sounded almost amused. “And I see that Mr Parker has learned to use doors as well as windows. Very efficient, that one is.”

Ava smirked, not too annoyed that Jarvis and her dad had both known Spider-Man’s identity, and both had neglected to tell her. “So what was the message?”

Jarvis responded quickly. “Sir said, and I quote, ‘I shall graciously get egg noodles from that Chinese place you like, even though it’s rotten food and bound to kill you early. If Peter’s with you, he’s welcome to join us for dinner. If he’s not with you at the moment, I’d like to have a quiet family dinner tonight’.” Hearing the inventor’s words through Jarvis was as amusing as ever. 

Peter stood up, looking awkward again. “I should probably be heading home. It’s obvious that Tony wants to talk to you without me around. I can always come back another time now that I know where you live. And that was totally meant in a completely non creepy way, I swear.”

Ava laughed. “I know.” She tilted her head. “You kind of remind me of who I used to be. Except you’re much cooler, since I didn’t use to be a badass hero running around kicking butt and taking names.” She leaned back, and stared up at the ceiling. “I can’t believe how long ago all of that was. I’m pretty sure that I could write an entire book about the adventures I’ve been through just in the last two years, and it would be over a hundred thousand words. At least. Probably more. I guess that’s just standard book size though.” She peered over at where Peter was standing by the door. “Sorry, I know I’m probably boring you.”

He shook his head. “Not at all. I’m sure that if you did have a novel of your life, everyone would want to read it. Sounds like you’ve led an interesting life for sure.”

There were definitely some things that Ava would not want to be included in a book about her life. She wouldn’t want people to know just how sad and pathetic she was in the beginning. She wouldn’t want them to know how she’d tried to kill Tony. Even if it wasn’t by her own choice, it was still a horrible thing. She wouldn’t want them to know how she had killed Obadiah. She didn’t even want to know that herself. Though she did know from experience that forgetting could be just as bad as remembering. 

Peter cleared his throat, and Ava realized that she’d been zoning out. She looked over at him. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. I really probably should be going though. I wouldn’t want my aunt to get worried. She’s pretty big on wanting to know where I am when I’m out on patrol and stuff like that.”

Ava nodded. “I’m sure my dad would be the same way, if he ever agrees to let me be a hero. At least I only have to wait another few months before I can go out on my own and do what I want regardless of what he thinks. You look like you’ve still got a couple years left to wait.”

Peter sighed. “Yeah. I’m fifteen.”

Ava laughed. “You’re so young. Like a little baby Spider-Man. You should definitely never let the criminals know that you’re so young, or they’ll never take you seriously again.”

“They barely seem to take me seriously as it is, so I doubt that my age would make much difference. But I’m not stupid. I would never give away personal information to the people I fight out there. I’m kind of a professional at this.”

Ava smiled, looking amused. “So how did my dad figure out your identity?”

Peter shrugged. “All he would say to me is that he’s got eyes everywhere. Which is vaguely creepy out of context for sure. But in this case, I’d believe it. He’s got a lot of money and resources that he could put into watching over the city.” He inched a little bit closer to the door. “I don’t want any guardians here getting upset, so I’m going to go now. It was really cool to meet you. If you convince your dad to let you be a hero, then we should work together at some point. I don’t know.” He paused. “Oh! Maybe we should swap numbers so that we can talk or whatever?”

Ava grinned. “Real smooth Casanova.”

His face turned a bit pink. “That’s not what I meant.”

Ava waved her hand. “It’s alright, I know. You’ve probably got someone cool in your life right? How could someone like you not? And I’ve already got someone cool in my life too.”

Peter’s blush darkened by a smidge. “Well. I don’t know about that. But we should definitely hang out again soon. And you can bring your cool person if you want.”

Ava paused for a moment to picture that encounter in her head. “Ah, Angel is pretty cool most of the time, anyways. She can be kind of abrasive sometimes, but she isn’t mean spirited or anything. She’s actually really nice when you get to know her.”

“So you’re dating a girl?” Peter’s question seemed to be about the gender part, but Ava got caught up on the ‘dating’ part.

She shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I mean, we’ve hung out a bunch, and we talk a lot and we’ve even… kissed,” she whispered that last word as a bright blush covered her face. “But I don’t know if I’d call it dating exactly. I’m sure she just thinks of us as friends who kiss.”

Peter raised his hands up like he was surrendering. “I’m certainly not the right person to go to for relationship advice. Maybe you should just try talking with her about it.”

Ava nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll do that. Um, good luck with your aunt then. Hope she isn’t too mad at you.”

“Yea. And good luck with your dad.” He had a goofy grin on his face. “I can’t believe you’re Tony Stark’s kid. It’s just too surreal.”

Ava laughed. “Don’t worry, I felt the exact same way when I found out.” She watched Peter leave, then laid back on her bed. “Jarvis, what do you think the odds are of my dad agreeing to let me be a superhero?”

There was a brief pause before Jarvis responded. “Perhaps it would be best if I didn’t answer that query.” 

Ava snorted. “Helpful as ever. Thanks.” She sighed. Even if the odds were pretty slim, it had to be worth it to at least still make her argument. She imagined going around the city and fighting crime, but doing it with Spider-Man instead of the Avengers. It certainly sounded like fun times.


	63. Chapter 63

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There still seems to be a bit of confusion about the layout of the tower, I hope I can clear that up. The top three floors of the Avengers tower make up the penthouse. Because that’s where Tony and his family reside, they refer to it like it’s sort of a regular house. So the ‘first floor’ means the first floor of the penthouse, not the first floor of the tower itself. Hope that makes sense to y’all

Just as they were opening the cartons that contained delicious smelling Chinese food, Jarvis interrupted them. “Miss Angel wishes to come up.”

Ava glanced at her dad. He looked a bit resigned, but then he shrugged. Ava grinned. “Send her up, Jarvis.” She looked at Tony. “Sorry, but she’s family. If we’re going to discuss whatever reasons you’ve made up for not letting me be a superhero, then she should hear them too so that both of us can laugh about them later.”

Tony pressed one hand against his heart. “You are so cruel to your own father. Telling me to my face that you’re going to laugh about me behind my back? I can hardly believe it.”

Pepper walked into the kitchen, and put down her phone on the table. “Are those egg noodles I smell?”

Ava reached across the table to grab both of the cartons that contained noodles. “Yes, but you can’t have any because they’re all mine.”

Pepper frowned. “But I have a baby growing in me. I need to get them to eat egg noodles or they may die. That’s just how it works with babies, I didn’t make the rules. Are you really going to deprive me of such an essential nutrient and allow me to starve to death?”

One of Ava’s eyes twitched, and she finally passed over one of the cartons just as Angel walked into the kitchen. “Ooh, smells good in here.” She plopped down into the empty seat next to Angel. “Egg noodles? What’s the occasion?” She glanced at Ava. “Is it your birthday or something and you didn’t tell me?”

Ava quickly shook her head. “Of course not. You think I’d want to hang out with these losers if it was my birthday?” She grinned. “Nah, it’s just supposed to be a boring family meeting or something. My dad said he’ll tell me why he won’t allow me to be a superhero, but he’ll be okay with mentoring Spider-Man-”

Tony quickly cut her off. “Alright, that’s enough of that. Let’s just eat for now, okay? Enjoy this rotten filth,” he finished as he piled lots of Chinese food onto his plate.

Angel rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Mr Stark. Ava didn’t tell me Spider-Man’s identity or anything like that. She’s too smart to do that. She just told me that she got to meet him, and learned that you’ve been helping him out.”

Once they’d all finished eating, and the leftovers had been packed away, Tony motioned for everyone to stay seated. He looked at Ava, and she had to force herself to not start squirming under his gaze. There was no reason to be nervous. She had nothing to lose from this conversation. “Ava. What do you think it means to be a hero?”

Well that wasn’t what she’d been expecting. “Well, it means that you help people who need your help. Doesn’t matter whether you’ve got superpowers or not, you do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

Tony took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Ava, the reason I-” he glanced at Pepper, “-we don’t want you going out there and being a hero is because the last time you did that you got very hurt, and it took a long time for you to recover, and it was hard on all of us. As a superhero myself, I’m so proud of the fact that you want to do good, and you want to use your abilities to help others. But as a parent, I’m terrified of all the things that could happen to you out there. But I know that you’re going to be legally an adult soon, and you’ll go out and do whatever you want, and I’d much rather you do it with me knowing about it, so that I’ll always be there to help you along the way.”

Pepper cleared her throat. “First thing’s first though. You’ll need a superhero name.”

Ava paused, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. She hadn’t expected her dad to just give in before she’d even started making all her arguments. “So both of you are okay with it? I can be a hero?” She forced herself not to sound excited, in case she’d misunderstood something and was about to have her hopes crushed. 

Tony nodded. “Yes. That is what we’re trying to say here. But we’re not just going to let you go flying out there on your own. That won’t come for a while. For now, you can go on patrols with me.”

“What about Spider-Man? He seems like a capable person. Can I go on patrols with him?”

Tony sighed, and ran one hand through his hair. “I suppose you could. But he mainly does his patrols at night, and I don’t want you being out too late. If it ever interferes with your sleep to the point that your grades at school start slipping, I’ll have to cut you off from going out with him. And no hero business any night until after you’ve finished all your homework. And when you’re out, whether it’s with me or with Spider-Man, you’ve got to listen to whatever we tell you. Both of us have more experience than you, and will be more likely to know what to do in a bad situation. And of course, if things ever get really bad, I’m telling you right now that I want you to run. No matter what’s at stake, just run. Can you agree to all of that?”

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. Those were a lot of conditions. But if she didn’t agree, then she’d have nothing, which would be worse than something with restrictions. “Fine. I agree to all of that.” She grinned. “I can’t believe that I’m going to be an actual superhero! Should I make a special costume? Do I need to wear a mask? What should my hero name be? How often do you go out on patrols? How soon can I start?”

Tony let out a long breath. “Hang on a moment. Just slow down for a second. You still have a lot of training and learning to do before you’re ready to go out there. Different fighting tactics, and the proper procedures in all different situations. And I know you’ve basically mastered your abilities, but that’s not in reference to combat. And it is important that you learn non-lethal combat.”

Ava clenched her jaw, and took a few deep breaths. She wasn’t sure if that was a purposeful jab at her, or if he was just thinking of all the things he’d had to learn, but it still hurt. Ava already knew that she couldn’t kill all the bad guys that they came across, and she already knew that she didn’t want to kill them. She didn’t want to kill anyone else ever again. 

Angel snorted. “Are you sure you’ll be able to handle all that Ava? Somehow I can’t imagine you being able to hurt anyone, let alone kill them.” She turned to look at Ava’s face, and immediately seemed to realize that she’d said something wrong. “Hey, are you okay?” she asked in a soft voice. 

Ava forced herself to breath normally again, and she nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just so excited to go out and be a superhero, I guess I froze up for a moment.” She suddenly stood up. “Can me and Angel be excused now?”

“It would be ‘Angel and I’,” Pepper helpfully told them. “But yes. You can go.”

Tony nodded in agreement. “We can talk about the rest of the fine details later. I’m sure you’ve got to go to your room to jump around and scream like children over this new development.”

As they got in the elevator, Angel reached over to grab one of Ava’s hands and give it a gentle squeeze. “This is so awesome, isn’t it? You’re finally going to be a superhero, just like you wanted! And I can’t believe that Tony Stark himself trusts me to know the secret identity of his daughter.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that when I start going out on patrols with Iron Man and never by myself, people will probably figure out who I am pretty quick. My dad had no problem with letting the whole world know who he is. So maybe he’ll have the same attitude about me? I’m not sure how all that will work. We’ll figure it out later, though. Right now, I just wanna hang out with you.”

They went into Ava’s room, and Ava plopped down onto her bed while Angel went over to turn the tv on. Then she joined Ava, though she did leave some space between them. Ava wondered if that meant she’d been right when she spoke with Peter. Maybe Angel hadn’t even thought much at all of their kissing, and that was that. 

After watching some random episodes of an old sitcom, Angel turned to look at Ava. She looked almost nervous, which was a strange look on her. “Hey, um, can I ask you something?” Ava glanced at Angel out of the corner of her eye, then looked back at the tv as she gave a quick nod. Angel sighed. “I was wondering. About before…” She suddenly jumped up, and went across the room to turn off the tv. Ava stared at her with wide eyes. “Sorry, I’d just prefer to talk to you face to face is all.” She nervously twisted her hands together, while still standing across from Ava. “I wanted to ask you about before, when we kissed. You were cool with that, weren’t you?”

Ava nodded again. “Of course. I would’ve said something if I wasn’t.”

Angel let out a noise of frustration. “Then why haven’t you said anything? Why haven’t you tried to talk about it, or kiss me again, or anything? So were you okay with it and it just didn’t mean anything to you? Is that it?”

Ava got up and took a couple steps closer to Angel, but she left a few feet between them. She quickly shook her head. “Of course not! But you never said anything, so I just thought you only wanted it to be a one time thing! You’re so cool, and I’m just me, so I thought you must’ve-”

Angel closed her eyes, and slowly took in a deep breath. She looked like she was trying to stay patient. “Ava. How stupid are you? I told you that I like you, different from a friend, and then I kissed you! Why would you assume that it was just for that day? Do you think that I’m some kind of slut or something, who goes around kissing everyone I come across?” The hurt in her voice was very clear. 

“No! I don’t think that! I just thought that you maybe realized that you didn’t like me after all, or that there are so many better people out there. I wasn’t trying to… I didn’t mean…”

Angel finally closed the gap between them. She reached up to gently hold her hands on the sides of Ava’s head. “You’re definitely an idiot. I said that I like you, and I kissed you, because I want to date you. No one else. Just you. You’re so perfect the way you are, how can you not already see that?”

Ava’s face flushed bright red from the confession and from how close they were standing to each other. “You want to be my girlfriend?”

Angel nodded. “Yes, you dum dum. I want to be your girlfriend, and I want you to be my girlfriend, and I want to take you out on dates even though I’m pretty broke, and I want you to take me out on dates, but not too fancy even though you’re double rich. I want to be able to hug you and kiss you and talk to you and tell you I like you whenever I want. Duh.”

“Oh,” Ava sounded slightly stunned. She hadn’t expected the evening to turn out this way for sure. “Are you sure that all of that is okay?”

There was some fond exasperation in Angel’s voice when she answered. “Yes. I wouldn’t have said all that if it wasn’t okay. So since you’re clearly so slow in the head, I guess I’m going to have to just ask you directly. Ava Stark, will you be my girlfriend even if you are an idiot?”

Ava grinned. “Yeah, I guess that’s fine.”

Angel pretended to be shocked. “You ‘guess that’s fine’? Is that really any way to treat the confession from a fine lady such as myself?” She cleared her throat, and went back to looking serious. “So is it okay if I kiss you now?”

Ava tilted her head. “Ah, but if we’re dating, can’t you just kiss me whenever you want without asking?”

There was a pause, and then Angel shook her head. “Look, I don’t know everything about your messed up history, but I do know that you’ve gone far too long in your life without having any choice in the things that happened to you. And I’m not going to add to that. You’ve always got a choice, okay? At least in this… relationship,” her face went a bit pink at the mention of the word, “You’ll always have a choice.”

“Alright then. You can kiss me.” She leaned her head forward, and Angel grinned as she leaned her head forward too.

,,,

Pepper sat down next to Tony on the couch. She stretched one arm so that it was resting behind his neck. “Who would’ve thought parenting would be so difficult?”

Tony shrugged. “It was easy enough for my father. He did absolutely nothing for me and I’ve still managed to become the fine upstanding citizen that I am today.” He couldn’t help sounding slightly bitter.

Pepper frowned. “Hey. You are an amazing person, and that’s got nothing to do with your father. Ava’s in the same boat as you, isn’t she? The people who raised her were no good either, and yet here she is today, happy and healthy and wanting to be a superhero just like her dad.”

Tony sighed, and leaned back. “I just don’t want to see her get hurt out there. But I know that she’s stubborn, and she’s going to do what she wants no matter what, so it’s best if she does it under my supervision.” He turned his head to look at Pepper. “Do you not get along with her because she doesn’t have your blood?”

Pepper shook her head. “No, I would never be like that. It’s not like I don’t try to get along with her. It just seems that we never have anything in common. And I can’t be the only one who’s noticed how she’s clearly been trying to avoid me lately. I’d just ask her what I did to offend her so much, but she refuses to be alone with me ever. I love her, Tony. You know that, don’t you? I know she hasn’t been a part of our lives for very long, but I do love her.”

“I know that. But does she?”

Pepper shrugged. “I’m not sure. I must’ve told her at some point, right? Or maybe I was too busy yelling at her.” She narrowed her eyes. “Not that I’ve had much choice. You’re so scared of becoming your father that you don’t do anything to discipline her no matter what she does. You’re the one who’s forced me to be the bad guy.” She didn’t sound too angry, mostly just irritated.

Tony reached up to grab Pepper’s hand that was resting on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know that that isn’t fair to you. And I know that it isn’t right to let her get away with anything. But I just get scared, you know? If I yell too loud, or say the wrong thing, let myself get too angry, then one day we could wake up and find her completely gone.”

They let a few minutes pass in silence before Pepper responded. “But that’s not going to happen, Tony. If we expect Ava to trust us, then we have to trust her. We have to trust that she isn’t going to cut and run the moment she is forced to face consequences for her actions.”

“I know,” Tony sounded a bit miserable. “But Pep… she’s been here like two years, and she still hoards food in her room because she’s afraid of being starved. What am I supposed to say to that? She’s been so messed up in the past, Pepper. I just don’t want to make things worse.”

Pepper turned a bit so that she was hugging Tony, and resting her chin on his shoulder. “You won’t. She loves you and knows that you only wants what’s best for her. And all we can do is help her heal so that she’ll be ready to face the world on her own someday.”

Tony spoke in a very quiet voice. “I don’t want her to have to face the world on her own, though. I want to always be there for her. To make up for the first sixteen years where I was nowhere to be found.” He reached down with his free hand to gently rub Pepper’s stomach. “I’m so scared. But I want to do everything right for this one that I couldn’t do for Ava. Is it selfish if I just want to prove that I can be a good dad?”

Pepper smiled. “You already have proven that, Tony. Ava’s a good kid because of you. You didn’t even know about her, so you can’t blame yourself for her childhood. And you’ve been doing an amazing job since she’s come to live here. I love you and us and our family so much.”

Tony nodded. “Me too. I’m the luckiest man in the world to really have it all like this.”

Then the two of them simply sat in a comfortable silence for a while longer, just happy to be together.


	64. Chapter 64

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking News! Local Girl Defeats Captain America in Hand to Hand Combat, Takes Nap

“Hm.” Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “How can you say that I haven’t won? You clearly have no chance of beating me, which means that I’m the winner.”

Steve was standing on the mats below Ava, since she was hovering up in the air, and he had an irritatingly patient look on his face. “If I was a bad guy and you did that, I’d be able to just continue on with my plans, which means you haven’t helped anyone. Plus I can still do this,” he suddenly threw his shield up at Ava.

She dove out of the way, and started to laugh, when the shield suddenly slammed into her back, sending her hurtling back onto the mats. She slowly pushed herself up, refusing Steve’s out stretched hands, and got to her feet. “I hate you so much right now.”

Steve raised one eyebrow. “That wasn’t even me using my full strength. If you can’t even get past me, then you definitely aren’t ready to be going out onto the streets yet.”

She frowned. “It’s not my fault that I don’t have super strength.”

“Of course it’s not. But you’re always going to run into an enemy that’s stronger than you. That’s why you have to know how to use your own gifts to your advantage, to make sure that even if you are up against someone who’s stronger or has different abilities, you’ll still be able to have a chance of winning. Maybe we should take a break for a few minutes.”

Ava quickly shook her head. “No way. I want to learn all of this as quickly as possible so that I can go out and be a superhero!” She took a stance like she was ready to start another round.

Steve frowned, and took a few steps closer so he could position Ava’s limbs the proper way. Then he stood across from her. “Alright, if you’re sure.”

She nodded, and darted towards him. Tony had already told Ava in no uncertain terms that she was not to use any lethal weapons while sparring, or even while fighting out on the streets, and she was perfectly okay with that. She made a holographic police baton, and aimed at Steve. When he moved to block it, Ava made a holographic Captain America shield, and used it to smack into Steve’s open side. 

When she tried to dart away from that, he grabbed her baton and used it to swing her off her feet. She let go of it and dropped to the floor as it disappeared. Steve pressed his shield down against Ava’s chest. “Do you give up yet?”

Ava let out an annoyed grunt. “Fine.” She still didn’t accept his help, and got back to her feet on her own. She could feel the bruises forming all over her body, but Ava wasn’t ready to quit just yet. “Come on, let’s do it again.”

Steve frowned. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re clearly exhausted right now.”

Ava looked at him pleadingly. “Please?” Ava knew that the Avengers weren’t her personal training tools, and she also didn’t know most of them very well at all. But she also knew that Steve would definitely be reporting the entire training session to Tony, and Ava wouldn’t let herself go without a single win. Even if he was going easy on her, it would still be better than nothing. 

Steve sighed, then nodded. “Fine. But this is the last time for today. If you push yourself too hard, you’re only going to get hurt rather than improving.”

They stood in their opening stances, and then Ava ran straight forward. She dropped to the ground last minute, and slid across the mat right between Steve’s legs. Before he got the chance to turn around, she squeezed her eyes shut. When she still hadn’t been hit a moment later, she wanted to laugh. It must’ve been successful. She really was going to win!

The reason that Steve hadn’t turned and knocked her down was because he was too busy fighting a hologram of Ava herself. They were currently connected by the tiniest holographic thread that could only be seen if looked at closely, and Ava felt victorious. She’d never made a living thing before, let alone herself. She felt like letting out a loud cheer, except that would give away the ruse. 

Ava took a moment to stop and watch her hologram fight. The movements were choppy and slow, but because Steve’s blows went right through it, it appeared to have super fast reflexes that allowed it to dodge each hit. 

Now that she knew she could do it, Ava couldn’t help feeling happy. This trick would definitely be useful. She wasn’t sure how long that little thread would stretch before it snapped and the hologram wasn’t technically touching Ava anymore, but that was something to be test at a later date. 

Then again, why not right now? The holographic Ava sprouted wings and jerked up into the air, pulling on the thread. Steve rolled his eyes. “You’ve already witnessed why this won’t work.” He tossed his shield at the hologram.

As soon as the shield was no longer in his hands, Ava attacked him from behind. She smacked him right in the center of his back with a baseball bat, and he fell forward onto the mat. Ava stepped down on the back of his neck, and leaned forward. “Do you give up yet?” Knowing that she’d already won, she let the holographic version of her disappear. 

Steve chuckled softly. “I do.” Once Ava removed her foot, Steve got back to his feet, and he looked around the training gym with curious eyes. “How did you do that?”

She grinned. “I just used my power to win against someone with more physical strength.”

“Well, that could’ve been a lucky beginner’s move. I’ll be sure to be more careful next time. Now come on. Let’s go get some cold drinks. It’s always good to replenish after a good workout.”

They both took the elevator up to the penthouse, which was just one floor above them. Tony was standing casually in the kitchen, leaning up against the fridge. He glanced up at them when they entered the room, and he spoke like he totally hadn’t been waiting there for them. “Oh. Hey guys. How’s it going?”

Ava grinned. “I beat Captain America!”

Tony couldn’t hide his surprise at that. “Really?” He looked at Steve with narrowed eyes. “So when I asked you to throw a match against me, you said no because it would be ‘unethical’ and ‘nobody would learn anything’ but when it’s against Ava-”

Steve laughed, and shook her head. “I didn’t let her win. She actually surprised me during that last round.” He glanced at Ava. “Excellent work today. I’ll be back tomorrow if you want to go again.”

Once he’d left, Tony looked at his daughter curiously. “How did you beat him? I’m not trying to be offensive, but realistically he’s got more training and more muscles than you do.”

Ava felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over her, but she did want to show Tony her new trick. She was sure he’d like it as much as she did. “Watch this.” She closed her eyes, and a moment later, she was holding her hands with an exact copy of herself. She connected them via holographic string instead, and the hologram began walking around the kitchen.

Tony’s eyes widened. “Woah.” When he saw Ava start to sway a little, he frowned. “I think you may have overdone it a little today.”

The hologram disappeared, and Ava shrugged. “Maybe. But I’ve flown for hours on my wings. I didn’t think that a living thing for just a few minutes would be so much harder. But imagine how sick that’ll be out on the battlefield? I could easily confuse an enemy by sending out copies of myself in every direction. It would be pretty awesome, right?”

Tony nodded hesitantly. “I suppose. Though if it tires you out so much just to use one for a few minutes, I’m not sure when you’ll be at a level where you can have a lot of them for a long time.”

Ava shrugged. “I’ll get there eventually, with enough practice. For now, I’m going to go take a nap.”

“Wait,” Tony opened the fridge to pull out a cool bottle of gatorade. “In case you get thirsty.” Once Ava had gone upstairs, using her wings because she wanted to prove she wasn’t that tired, Tony went into the living room. “Jarvis, play me a clip of the last match between Goldilocks and Ava.” It wasn’t a breach of privacy; everyone knew that Jarvis strictly monitored the training gym so that help could be called for immediately if anyone were to get hurt. 

Tony watched the video with wide eyes as Steve fought against an exact copy of Ava. From the angle Tony was watching from, it was obvious that most of Steve’s blows would’ve hit if it were actually Ava, but instead they passed right through the hologram. And even though the movements were a bit clumsy, and the reflexes were obviously slow, it really did look like a human being fighting there. He wondered if Ava had been controlling the hologram, or if it had been moving of its own free will, more like an AI.

It was incredible to watch either way. Especially when he peered past the captain, and he could see the euphoric look on the real Ava’s face. Then she took Steve by surprise and brought him down. It made for quite the show. 

,,,

Angel and Hayden both came over after Ava had woken up from her nap. “Guys! Gals! You’ll never guess what happened!”

Angel raised one eyebrow as she sank down onto Ava’s bed. “Did you finally lose one of your baby teeth?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “No. But I did beat Captain America in a fight!”

Hayden frowned. “No way. Captain America can even kick your dad’s ass. How the hell could you beat him?”

Ava grinned. “I discovered that I can push my powers further than I’d ever thought.” She demonstrated by showing off her holographic self. “Look!”

Angel reached out to poke the creation, and her finger passed right through the cheek. She frowned. “That’s kind of creepy.”

Hayden glanced at Ava. “Does it move and stuff?” She nodded, and a moment later, the hologram began walking stiffly around the room. “But I thought you had to be touching?”

Ava pointed out the thin thread. “That’s enough to count. And even if a bad guy spots it, there’s nothing they can do to sever it, since it’s a hologram and they’d just go right through it. Brilliant, isn’t it?”

Hayden and Angel glanced at each other, and they both seemed to agree simultaneously that they didn’t like it. Hayden gulped. “It’s so freaky though. Does it have a brain? Can it think independently? Can you be doing heavy action at the same time as it even if you can’t see it? When someone goes through it does it actually feel any pain?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I don’t know is the answer to most of those. No pain though, that I know for sure. But it’s alright, I get it. You guys aren’t big fans.” The fake Ava disappeared. “But what if it was a cute little kitty?” A moment later, a tiny little kitten attached to Ava by another thread, jumped onto Angel’s lap, and purred loudly. 

Angel tried to pet the cat’s head, but her hands went through it, and she frowned. “Where do your holograms go when they’re not out in the open?”

Ava shrugged. “They don’t go anywhere. They just don’t exist. They aren’t real; a hologram is just a three dimensional object created by light, or something like that. They aren’t actual things that need storage space.” She made the cat disappear when it was obvious that it was making Angel a bit uncomfortable.

Hayden tilted his head. “So if it’s just about light or something, doesn’t that mean you should be able to make infinite holograms? I mean at first, I’d have assumed just two, one in each hand. But if little connecting threads count, then you could theoretically have millions of them, right?”

Ava frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never really tried that. But I think that if I can make something as complex as a person full of internal organs then I could do that. At least, I think the person had internal organs. I’m not sure how they could walk around and fight and stuff otherwise. Damn this is all confusing.”

Angel reached up to grab Ava’s hand in order to pull her down onto the bed. “Hey, don’t worry about that stuff. You’ll have plenty of time to test out the limits of your powers later. You’re still just a kid, remember.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I’m going to be an adult soon enough.”

Hayden grinned. “Well, unless your birthday is in the next two weeks, I’m going to be an adult before both of you hooligans.”

Ava jumped up. “Oh my gosh, how did I not know that your birthday is so soon? I could totally throw you a giant party here.”

Hayden raised one eyebrow. “Are you sure you wouldn’t get in trouble for that?”

Ava snorted. “Come on. We’ve all read the stories about the kinds of parties that my dad used to throw all the time. I’m sure that compared to those, he’d have no problem with a birthday party. We just have to swear up and down that there won’t be any alcohol.”

Hayden nodded thoughtfully. “Sounds like a fun idea. You can even use your rich person money to make sure that we’re eating caviar and all that other expensive crap.”

Ava wrinkled up her nose. “Caviar is nasty. Definitely one of those things rich people eat just to torture themselves, and to prove their wealth. Yuck.”

“Doesn’t matter. You volunteered to throw the party, and it’s my birthday, which means that you have to provide whatever foods I want. I mean, I should at least get some benefit out of having a super rich friend, right?”

Angel rolled her eyes. “Let’s be real though. You’d rather she spend all that money on a million pizzas with like ten different toppings on each one, and several giant chocolate cakes.”

Hayden sighed. “Alright, you got me there.” He looked at Ava curiously. “You serious about throwing that party though? Because I have some ideas on what we could do for fun around here, besides hiring a couple of strippers. Not that that wouldn’t be fun.”

Ava laughed. “My dad would probably be alright with strippers too. Pepper’s the only one who’d be against it. But let’s hear those other ideas of yours. Like you said, there should be some benefit to having a rich friend. And I want to give you a nice birthday if I can.”

Hayden grinned. “Alright, I have so many ideas.” And the three of them stayed there and chatted about birthday party plans for the rest of the night.


	65. Chapter 65

Ava waited until Tony had been working in his lab for a little while, because she knew that that’s when he’d be at his most distracted. While before she’d felt ignored for trying to take care of him when he was in his crazy inventing mode, now she knew that it was actually the best time to ask for anything, since Tony wouldn’t pay enough attention to do anything other than agree. And if she needed visual proof later, Jarvis would be happy enough to play back the moment so Tony would know it had really happened. 

She tried to keep the smug grin off of her face as she walked into the lab, and over to where Tony was hunched over his desk, tapping all over his tablet and looking thoroughly engrossed with what he was doing. “Hey dad, I have two really quick little questions. Can I throw a birthday party for Hayden here in a couple weeks, and can I sleep over Angel’s house tonight?”

There was a pause, and it looked like Tony had to physically tear his face away from what he was doing. “Huh?”

Ava raised one eyebrow. “Please?”

The tablet made a noise, and Tony quickly turned his attention back to that. He waved one hand in Ava’s direction. “Yeah, fine, sure.” Then he immediately went back to what he was doing. 

Ava silently cheered as she sauntered out of the lab, and she glanced up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, did you record that?”

The AI’s amused voice responded, “Indeed, Ava. I’m glad that at least one other piece of technology in this building is actually intelligent.”

Ava returned to the third floor, and went into her room, where Angel was lying on the floor, holding her phone up over her face as she scrolled through some social media site. Angel rested her phone down on her chest when Ava walked in. “So? What did he say?”

Ava grinned. “He said yes to both of my requests. Which means that we’re going to throw Hayden the most badass eighteenth birthday party of all time, and he seemed completely okay with the idea of me sleeping over your place tonight.” Both girls were excited at the prospect of getting to spend more time together. “Maybe we should leave now so that by the time anyone notices I’m not here, it’ll be too late to go out and get me.”

She quickly grabbed her school backpack, dumped out all of the books and folders that were in it, and shoved in some clothes. Then she zipped it up, swung it over her shoulder, and offered a hand down to Angel to help the other girl get back to her feet. 

They quickly hurried onto the elevator, giggling the whole time. As they went down to the lobby of the tower, Ava glanced at the ceiling. “Jarvis, if anyone asks where I am, just play that glorious video of my father’s enthusiastic consent for me to sleepover this lovely lady’s house.”

“Of course, Ava,” Jarvis responded smoothly. “Do be careful out there.”

Ava smiled. “I will.” 

When they could, they hurried out of the building, and into Angel’s car that was sitting in the parking lot. Since she’d been coming over so often, Ava had asked Tony to give her an official parking spot so that there’d always be somewhere for her to put her car.

Angel turned up the radio, and they drove until they reached a less businessy side of the city. It was a quaint looking residential area, and Angel pulled into the driveway of a small house that was a faded purple color. There were no other cars around the house. “Awesome. My mom and dad aren’t home right now. Come on.” They walked inside the house, and Angel glanced back at Ava with something close to embarrassment. “I know that this isn’t even close to what you were expecting…”

Ava looked around with awe. The place just looked so lived in. There were things everywhere, though it wasn’t exactly a major mess. There were pictures all over the walls, showing off Angel at various ages with a smiling couple standing behind her. There were papers all over the small coffee table between the worn couch and the old TV set, and there was a bookcase leaning up against one wall that was completely full, though it wasn’t even close to being organized. Next to it was a smaller shelf full of dvds and video games. 

Angel hurried forward to grab a blanket off the floor and throw it onto the back of the couch, trying to cover a large stained section. Ava didn’t care about the stain. Or about the plates full of crumbs that were scattered in various places around the room. Or the clothes that were draped over various pieces of mismatched furniture.

Ava smiled. “I love it.”

Angel looked at her curiously, and when she saw that Ava was telling the truth, she returned the smile. “Ah, well, you’re right. What’s not to like about this garbage heap?” She closed the front door, and then turned back to Ava. “Can I kiss you?”

Ava nodded. “That’s a definite yes.”

A few minutes later, after Ava had gotten the grand tour of the rest of the house, they stopped in Angel’s room so that Ava could put down her bag. Angel looked at her curiously. “So there’s two ways we could handle this. Tell my parents that you’re a friend from school, and they won’t think twice about us having a sleepover. Or tell them that we’re dating, and hope that they don’t kick you out because sleeping over with your significant other is ‘inappropriate’ or something like that. It’s up to you.”

Ava flopped down onto Angel’s bed, which was a much thinner mattress than she was used to, and full of springs that poked into her back. “Do your parents know that you…?” She gestured between the two of them.

Angel shrugged. “They know that I’d date anyone if I cared about them enough. But I’ve never liked anyone enough to let them meet my parents, so I have no idea how that’s going to make them react.”

Ava didn’t want to force Angel to keep secrets from her own parents, but the fact that this was even a choice meant that she hadn’t said anything about Ava yet. It meant that she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to. And their whole relationship was still so new. She didn’t want to get kicked out on their first sleepover. 

After a few minutes passed in silence, Angel rolled her eyes, and flopped down next to Ava. “Whatever you’re thinking about right now, I can almost guarantee that you’re over thinking things.”

Ava sighed. “I want to spend more time with you. But I don’t want to make you lie to your parents about anything. So just tell them.” She tilted her head. “Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t told them already. From the way you talk about them, it sounds like you’re pretty close.”

Angel shrugged, and pulled Ava closer to her. “Well, you haven’t said anything to your parents yet, so I just assumed there might be a reason you didn’t want other people to know. Like if you haven’t come out yet, or if you wanted to wait a little longer to see how serious things are going to get, or you just don’t feel comfortable with everyone knowing. So I thought I’d hold off a bit on saying anything. And I may have neglected to even tell them that you exist because I was nervous about how to introduce the idea of you to them.”

Ava rolled her eyes, and sat up. “And you think that I was way over thinking things. Well, it’s alright. Now you can officially and proudly introduce me as your girlfriend. And then when you drop me off back at home tomorrow, I shall do the same with you.”

The two of them were both pleased with that resolution, and they went back out into the living room to play some competitive racing game together on the console that was there. 

Several hours passed before the front door swung open, and the happy couple from the photos walked in. They both greeted Angel, and then looked curiously at Ava. Angel paused their game so that she could stand up and face her parents. “Ah, Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Ava. She’s my girlfriend, and she’s very important to me.”

The adults gave Ava an assessing look, like they were trying to figure out if she was worthy of dating Angel. Angel’s mom stepped forward first. “Hello Ava, I’m Emily,” she nodded towards her husband. “And that’s Darren.” She tilted her head. “Are you staying for dinner?”

Ava nodded politely. “If that’s alright with you. Actually, I was planning on staying the night, but if you’re not cool with that, then I totally understand.”

Emily glanced back at Darren, and he shrugged. “Well, I don’t see why not. But you can both sleep in the living room.” She pointed towards the doorway that Angel had previously mentioned belonged to her two younger brothers. There was no door there. “We still haven’t gotten around to replacing that dang thing. But that works out for now. Knowing that there are two boys without a door who have a room directly connected to the living room should keep you in line.”

Ava nodded seriously. “Yes ma’am.”

“Ah, please, just call me Emily. It’s nice to meet you.” She glanced at Angel. “Can I talk to you in private for a moment?” 

Angel nodded, and glanced at Ava to give her a quick smile. “I’ll be right back.”

Once the mother and daughter had left the room, Ava and Darren both stood there awkwardly for a moment. Ava cleared her throat. “So you’re Angel’s step-dad?”

He seemed surprised that Ava was trying to talk to him, but he recovered a moment later. “Technically yes. But I’ve been here since she was about six, so I’m just her dad for all intents and purposes. So how did you meet Angel?”

The teen tilted her head for a moment to think. “We met at school when I transferred there a few months ago. It’s kinda crazy that I’m just meeting you now, since she’s been over my house tons of times. All while my dad was there.” She wasn’t sure how Tony being home would ever actually provide comfort to any other parents, but she wasn’t sure how to bring up the subject of Pepper without things getting really complicated. “I mean, she’s practically become part of my family already.”

Darren shrugged. “Well, I had no idea. I know that a while ago, Angel had mentioned that she made friends with a kid in her class named Hayden, so we just assumed that she’d been spending all her time with him, along with work and her other friends of course.”

Then there was just awkward silence for another couple minutes until Angel and Emily returned. Ava found herself getting dragged into helping make dinner, along with the two brothers who had apparently been home the entire time, and even though she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, it was still all pretty fun. 

While they were in the middle of eating, Angel’s phone went off, and she frowned at the unfamiliar number before answering the call. “Um, hello?” There was a pause, and then she held her phone out towards Ava. “Jarvis called for you.” Ava took the phone, and excused herself into the living room. 

The older of the two brothers, Sam, leaned back in his seat to let out a loud belch before asking, “Who’s Jarvis?”

“Ava’s butler,” was Angel’s smug response. 

Emily raised one eyebrow. “I’m sorry, did you just say her butler?”

Angel nodded. “Yup. Did I forget to mention that Ava is the daughter of Tony Stark?”

The younger brother, Briar, looked at her with wide eyes. “You aren’t serious, are you? Her dad is Iron Man?”

Angel nodded again. “I’m dead serious. I’ve been spending lots of time over at the Avengers Tower. I have access to the penthouse, since that’s where Ava and her dad live, and I can go up there whenever I want.” She smiled. “It’s pretty great, but of course, Ava’s the coolest part of all that. Did you know that she has a pet goat, and his name is Frederick? He sleeps on the end of her bed the way Minxy sleeps on mine.”

Ava returned to the dining room a moment later, and she held the borrowed phone out to Angel. “Well, my dad was pissed, but he couldn’t deny the fact that he’d already agreed, so he said he’d give me this one on a technicality. He also said, and I quote, ‘If you return tomorrow with a single hair less than you had before leaving, I’m going to tell Pepper on you. And also if you ever try to pull something like this again, I’ll take away your access to the lab. And also also, well played.’ So I don’t think he’s really even half as mad as he could be.”

Emily looked at Ava curiously. “Your father said all that? Tony Stark?”

Ava glanced at Angel, then back at the mother. “Yes ma’am.”

There was silence around the table until Briar spoke up. “If that was all exactly as he said it, then you must have a pretty good memory.”

Ava smiled as she sat back down next to Angel. “Thanks. You might even say I’ve got a computer for a brain.”

Briar thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. “No, I don’t think it was that great.”

Ava laughed, and then everyone went on talking, mostly asking Ava questions about what it was like to be the daughter of one of the richest men in the world. 

Meanwhile, Tony was sitting on the edge of his bed, feeling angry. He wasn’t angry at Ava at all, just at himself. When he’d been younger, if he tried to ask his father a question while he was busy, Howard would get physical, and Tony knew that he hadn’t done anything nearly as bad as that. But he couldn’t help wondering how often he’d ignored Ava while he was working for her to figure out that it was the perfect time to ask for things? At least he hadn’t said, ‘now go away, I’m busy’ the way Howard used to, but it still bothered him. 

At some point, Pepper found him and sat down next to him. “Hey, what’s wrong? You look troubled.”

Tony shrugged. “Ava’s sleeping over her friend’s house. Even though we don’t usually interact much this late anyways, it still feels strange to know that she’s not here right now. What if something happens while she’s there?”

Pepper frowned, and pulled Tony into a hug. “You know that she can take care of herself. And the odds of anything happening are slim. Besides, you can’t keep her a prisoner in here for the rest of her life.”

Tony’s back stiffened at the thought. Stan and Margie Bench had kept Ava a prisoner in their home, and the only escape she ever had was going to school. In a way, Tony was doing the same thing, and he resolved in his mind that he would not do that anymore. He was going to be a good father for that child who hadn’t been born yet, and he was going to do everything right for once.


	66. Chapter 66

When Ava woke up, she frowned as she realized that she definitely didn’t recognize the room she was in. It wasn’t until She felt something warm pressed up against her back that she remembered the fact that she’d slept over Angel’s house the night before. When she tilted her neck back, she saw that Angel was still sleeping.

Ava wiggled out from Angel’s surprisingly tight grip, and looked around the house again. It was much quieter this early, and it was pleasant, even if Angel was obviously embarrassed by the fact that it wasn’t all neat and organized. But Angel didn’t know anything. If she’d ever seen Tony’s lab, she’d understand that her house was spotless in comparison. 

Ava grabbed Angel’s phone from where it was resting on the couch next to them, since they’d chosen to just sleep on the floor with some blankets, and she went outside. There was a unique feeling to the way she could squish her toes into the dewy grass in the early morning, and just breath in the fresh air that came with not being in the center of the city. 

She unlocked Angel’s phone easily, since her girlfriend had given her the password a while back, and she dialed one of the few numbers she’d bothered to memorize. Her call was answered immediately by the familiar posh voice of Jarvis. “Miss Angel. It is quite early to be making calls, is it not?”

Ava laughed. “It’s me, Jarvis. I’m just calling to check in. Did Dad go to sleep last night, or did he just pass out in his lab again?”

“I am pleased to report that he went to bed at eleven o’clock last night, despite his many complaints about how that makes him ‘a very old man’.”

Ava snorted. “Ah, that sounds like him. That’s good though. Well, when he wakes up, let him know that I’m alright, and that I am having a really good time so far.”

“I will be sure to inform him,” Jarvis said, sounding fond. “I am also glad that you are having fun.”

Once the call was disconnected, Ava plopped down on the grass, not caring about the dew that was soaking through her pajama shorts. She stared up at the sky, where the pink from the sunrise was just starting to fade away and reveal a pretty blue color. 

As she was sitting there, she heard the front door of the house open, and footsteps as someone walked over and plopped down next to her. She glanced at Angel for a moment before looking back at the sky. “Mornin’.”

Angel grumbled unintelligibly for a moment before getting out actual words. “It’s too damn early to be awake right now.”

Ava shrugged. “Then go back to sleep.”

Angel scooted closer, and let her head drop onto Ava’s shoulder as she made some tired noises. “The floor is so uncomfortable when you’re on it alone. This is your fault anyways, you hellion. Why would you get up and leave me there all cold and alone? And why are you up so early in the morning? Don’t you have a single normal teenager gene in your body?”

Ava laughed. “I highly doubt it. I wasn’t raised by a ‘normal’ family, and I’m certainly not living with a ‘normal’ family right now.” She tilted her head, feeling a little more serious. Her laughter had been too loud for this early in the morning. “They might all be complete whack jobs, but I like my current family the way that it is. I mean, what could be cooler than finding out you’re actually Tony Stark’s kid? I mean, I’m sure that based on all the stories about him from a few years back, he’s probably got a lot of kids who don’t even know it. But I’m different than all of them because I get to actually be his daughter, you know?” She leaned her head on top of Angel’s. “There’s a lot for me to be grateful for. For instance, I’m very glad to have you in my life.”

Angel grinned. “Well yeah, who wouldn’t be? But really, if anyone lucked out in that sense, it would be me. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met before in my entire life. And you wanna know what could be cooler than finding out you’re Tony Stark’s kid? I’ll tell you. In my opinion, it’s way cooler to find out that you’re the kid of someone who loves you.” Her voice softened as she knew she was about to ask a serious question. “I know you don’t like talking about them because they were obviously bad, but what were your other parents like?”

Ava shifted uncomfortably, but Angel didn’t move her head, and she reached out one arm to wrap around Ava’s waist. “Hey, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about them. I was only wondering because like it or not, they’re the ones who raised you for most of your life, which means that they’ve played a big role in making you into the person you are now.”

“I doubt it. The person I became under their ‘care’ is not someone you’d ever want to know. I was awful. Weak and pathetic. Couldn’t stand up for myself at all. I couldn’t even walk down a street without jumping at every single noise.” She paused for a moment, thinking about what else she could say to make sure Angel understood. Ava hated the person she’d been. And she hated the fact that she was still the same person sometimes. “The day I first met my dad was the same day that I almost died. Twice. A kid pushed me out in front of a moving car. And then when my mom- when that bitch showed up and said some harsh things, I tried to jump off a bridge.” She smiled humorlessly. “Well, I did succeed in jumping. It was just reaching the water that I failed to do. That’s when Iron Man showed up and scooped up out of the sky. He saved my life, and it was in the exact moment that I realized that, I became a different person. In some ways, I felt invincible all of a sudden.”

After silence passed between them for several minutes, Angel wrapped her other arm around Ava as well, and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry that you had to go through all that.”

Since she was already pulling up all those old memories, she decided that the only time she’d ever be able to explain the Bench’s would be if she could get the words out right now. “The people who I thought were my parents had me because they’d kidnapped me as a baby. They never actually took care of me. Never bothered feeding me or comforting me or talking to me, or really doing anything else to acknowledge my existence. I was completely worthless to them, and they made sure I was aware of that. When my dad first found me, I was only half as big as I am right now.” She shrugged. “But all of that is behind me now. I don’t want to think about those people. I never have to see them again, and I have a good family now.”

Angel pulled the hug a little tighter, before she slowly let go and stood up. “Come on. If we don’t hurry back inside, then Sam and Briar are going to hijack the TV and leave us with nothing to do.” As they stood right in the doorway to the house, Angel glanced back at Ava. “And just so you know, I don’t think you’re worthless at all, because just being around someone as incredible as you makes me infinitely happy.”

Ava grinned. “Ah, don’t go getting all sentimental on me.” They both curled back up in their nest of blankets, and turned on the TV, even though they weren’t paying any attention to whatever was playing. 

,,,

Ava looked at where Tony was sitting at the kitchen counter, and she gave him a serious expression. “I suppose that you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today.”

Tony spun around in his seat, obviously startled by the sudden words. Then he furrowed his eyebrows. “But I’m the only one in here. And I was already here when you came in here, so that doesn’t really count as gathering…”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just let me speak, old man.” She took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out. Once she was sure she wasn’t about to start hyperventilating and pass out, she grabbed Angel’s arm and pulled her into Tony’s line of sight. “I have a very important announcement to make.” If Angel could do this, then so could she. “I am dating a girlfriend and it’s Angel!” She was sure that her words hadn’t come out in the right order, but that was good enough to get her point across, even to the stupid man who was staring up at her with wide eyes. 

She tried to subtly move Angel behind her so that she wouldn’t have to take the brunt of whatever attack Tony was planning. Ava had never really given it much thought before, but someone like Tony Stark was probably expecting Ava to be with someone in the same elite high class category as the Starks. The gender thing probably didn’t matter based on how many reported threesomes there’d been in the past that involved Tony. Not that Ava wanted to think about her dad like that, but sometimes people just talked and Ava heard all kinds of things about her father’s shady past. 

After several moments, Ava realized that she hadn’t been yelled at or scolded, or anything. Tony hadn’t said a single word. She peered over at him curiously. He seemed to be frozen in place. Ava walked closer, and cautiously poked him in the cheek several times. “Um, Dad? Are you still alive? If you are could you at least give me some kind of sign? I know you probably had different expectations, but I-”

Tony suddenly jumped up from his seat, and pulled Ava into a surprise hug. “I’m very happy for you! But… I do not look forward to giving you all of those relationship talks that parents are supposed to give.” He laughed, but there was a worried look on his face. 

Ava frowned. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you?”

Tony let out a long sigh, then sank back into his seat. “It’s nothing, really. Why don’t you and Angel run along and find something to do?” He narrowed his eyes. “Something _appropriate_ to do.”

Ava glanced back at Angel and nodded towards the direction of the elevator. Angel got the hint, and left to go to Ava’s room while Ava sat down next to Tony. “If it’s because she’s a girl then I’ll have you know…” that didn’t seem to get any reaction out of Tony. “Or if it’s because she’s not rich…” that didn’t seem to be it either. Ava sighed. “Come on. You and Pepper are always lecturing me about trust and proper communication and all that crap. So please communicate with me right now.”

Tony let out another sigh. “It’s got nothing to do with who Angel is, I promise. It’s just that…” his voice suddenly rose in pitch and volume. “My little girl’s all grown up with her own girlfriend and you’re not going to need me anymore!” Then he stood up. “Though I am a bit surprised you managed to land such a hot chick. Congrats.”

Ava rolled her eyes, and stood up so that she could punch Tony in the shoulder. “Don’t be a dick. I thought you were upset about something serious. Don’t scare me like that.” She started towards the doorway of the kitchen, then paused for a moment to glance back so she could speak softly. “And don’t be an idiot. I’m always going to need you, Dad.”

When she turned around again to walk into the hallway, she almost walked right into Pepper. She scowled. “Watch where you’re going, will ya?” Then she left the kitchen.

Pepper sat down next to Tony, intending to complain about Ava’s attitude. But the upset look on Tony’s face quickly caught her attention. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re about to start crying or something.”

Tony shrugged. “Apparently Ava and Angel are actually dating, and not really close friends like we’d thought. I hate myself for hating the thought of her growing up. I wish that I’d had all those years of changing diapers and the terrible twos, and teaching her how to read, and teaching her how to wire a motherboard, and watching her grow and learn and I’ll never get that. She’s already so old, she’s in a relationship, she’s got lots of friends, she’ll be heading off to college soon, and she’s got her own entire fortune. I can’t help worrying that soon I won’t even have what little I’ve got right now. And I’ve been thinking about some other things too. Who was Ava’s mother? Even a test tube baby needs some kind of XX DNA in them. As far as I can tell, Margie’s journal doesn’t say anything about that. Is that woman alive somewhere? Was she willingly part of the experiment? Does she know what happened to her daughter?”

“Hm,” Pepper made soft noises while she tried to think. “I wish that I had all the answers, Tony, but I don’t. Maybe you could try setting up some kind of advertisement where you ask Ava’s birth mother to come forward if she’s able. Or maybe you could just leave it alone? If the woman’s gone this long without meeting Ava, then maybe-”

Tony quickly shook his head. “But we can’t use that kind of logic, Pep. I went the first sixteen years of Ava’s life without knowing her, and I had no idea what I was missing out on. If there’s a mother out there, I can’t deny her the right to meet her own child. Don’t get so jealous, darling. If Ava clashed with you so much right from the start, there’s no way she’d immediately get along with some total stranger. Maybe Ava just isn’t good with mother figures.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “I’m not jealous. Not exactly. It’s just that I’ve been working so hard to try and be a mother figure in Ava’s life, but she refuses to see me that way, and if her real mother came onto the scene, then I’d really have no chance.”

Tony smiled. “I’m sure she loves you very much. How could she not? You’re just so likeable.” He leaned forward to start kissing his fiance. 

From where Ava was listening, pressed up against the wall next to the kitchen entrance, she heard the entire conversation, and knew that it was time for her to leave. As she flew up to the third floor, she couldn’t help thinking about what Tony had said. What if she really did have a mother out there still? She couldn’t just say that a real mother would’ve found her ages ago, since Tony hadn’t found her ages ago either. But Ava didn’t really feel like she needed a mother, since she did have Pepper already. 

Ava hadn’t realized that Pepper actually wanted to be her mom so badly. Maybe she should try going a little easier on the woman. But then again, as soon as the new baby is born, Pepper is bound to forget all about Ava, so what was the point in trying to get along?

She went into her room, and flopped down next to Angel. “Everything is confusing.”

Angel just laughed. “Ah, now you know what it feels like to be a regular teenager. Not pleasant, is it?”

Ava maneuvered herself so that she was resting with her head in Angel’s lap. “At least I’ve got you.” 

Angel kept laughing. “So what took you so long to get up here?”

“Oh boy. You’ll never guess what kind of conversation I just overheard-”

Jarvis suddenly interrupted before Ava could talk about everything that had just happened. “Ava, Peter Parker is requesting permission to come up and visit with you.”

Ava grinned. That would make the day more interesting for sure. “Send him on up, Jarvis.”

Angel look curious. “Who’s Peter Parker?”

Ava laughed. “He’s a cool guy. You’ll probably like him. Not in a creepy or romantic way of course.”

“Of course.” Angel leaned forward to press a kiss to Ava’s forehead. “I’ll probably never like anyone nearly as much as I like you.” Ava didn’t respond, but she knew that she definitely liked the sound of that.


	67. Chapter 67

As Peter walked into the bedroom, he looked at the way Angel and Ava were tangled up together, and he just shrugged before sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Hey.”

“Hey, what’s up? I wasn’t expecting you over today, was I? I’m kinda all over the place lately, so I’m really sorry if I forgot about our plans.”

Peter shook his head, and he had an amiable enough look on his face. “No, we didn’t have any plans, don’t worry. There was something I wanted to talk with you about, but you have company, so it’s probably better if I come back some other time. It’s just, um, you know. Work related stuff.”

Real smooth Peter. Ava tilted her head back to look at Angel. As much as she trusted her girlfriend with her own identity and powers, it wasn’t her place to out Peter as a superhero without his explicit permission. “We just spent a lot of time together, right? So it wouldn’t be a big deal if I sent you home right now, would it?”

Peter looked like he wanted to protest on Angel’s behalf, and probably say something about how he didn’t want to get in between them or in the way of their relationship or whatever. But then he crossed his arms over his chest, and spoke before Angel could respond to Ava. “Does she know about you?”

Ava nodded. “I trust her with my life.”

Angel didn’t seem to appreciate being spoken about like she wasn’t in the room. “I’m right here, you know.” Then she looked at Ava with a raised eyebrow. “And some random kid I’ve never even heard you mention before knows about you?”

Ava shrugged. “It’s a complicated situation-”

“I’m Spiderman,” Peter interjected. 

Well, it was out there now. Though that certainly hadn’t been what Ava was expecting. Did he really trust her judgement so much that he’d put his faith in someone he’d never even met just because Ava approved? Angel stared at Peter, and blinked slowly while she waited for her brain to catch up to the situation. “Wow,” was what she finally settled on saying. “Do you just go around introducing yourself like that to everyone?”

Peter looked surprised. “Wait, you actually believe me?”

Angel glanced at Ava, who gave a single small nod, and then she looked back at Peter. “Sure, why not? I mean, I am dating someone with superpowers, whose dad happens to be another superhero. And I’ve never heard Ava talk about you before even though you obviously know each other, and it would make sense that she wouldn’t want to talk about you and risk accidentally giving your identity away to me. But seriously dude. Either tell the whole world about yourself like Tony Stark did, or keep your mouth shut. It’s gotta be way too much trouble to try going halfsies.”

Peter shook his head. “There’s no way I’m even close to being ready to tell the whole world about me. I’m happy with the amount of people who do know. And yeah, it’s probably a few more people than I’d planned on when I first became Spiderman, but I trust all of them, or at least trust the people connected to all of them.”

Angel shrugged. “Whatever, man. It’s your identity. But why exactly did you feel the need to share that with me? No matter how much you trust Ava, there’s no reason that I’d need to know that kind of classified information.”

Peter frowned. “I wanted to talk to Ava about superhero stuff, but I didn’t want to make her kick you out, since you two are obviously getting along pretty well. I guess she was right when she called you her cool person, huh?”

Ava cleared her throat, and tried to will away the faint blush that had appeared on her face. “So why are you here, Peter? What kind of superhero business was so important that you had to drop in without an appointment?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Oh please, you’re starting to sound like your dad. You are so not going to make your friends make appointments in order to meet with you. You’re just not. And I wanted to talk to you about-”

“Dude, I just came up with a fantastic idea,” Ava interrupted. She felt a bit bad about being rude, but she wasn’t sure that she really wanted to hear about whatever superhero business Peter needed to discuss. Either it was going to be some kind of question that she didn’t know the answer to and would make her feel stupid, or it would be a reminder of the fact that Tony had said she still wasn’t sufficiently trained to go out on patrols yet. “You’re an only child, right? Well do you want a new sibling?”

Peter’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What are you talking about? Aunt May wasn’t exactly jumping at the bit to raise one kid, let alone more than that. And aren’t you happy here? You’ve got a rich and famous dad, you’re rich, your dad knows about your superpowers, you live in a tower-”

Ava cut him off again as she shook her head. “I’m not talking about me. Pepper’s pregnant, so all you’d have to do is wait a few months, and then bam! New sibling.”

Angel grabbed one of Ava’s hands to give it a comforting squeeze. “You of all people should be opposed to the idea of kidnapping infants.”

Peter looked uncertain of what to say. “Shouldn’t that be good news? Do you not want a sibling?”

Ava sighed, and stretched out so that her head was resting on Angel’s lap, and her feet were resting on Peter’s. “A new baby is just going to ruin everything. I’m barely even going to know them because I’ll be off at college and living my life and being an adult while they’re growing up. And because I’ll be away and they’ll be here, my dad and Pepper are going to be too distracted by them to even remember me anymore. And it’s just not fair! I had to live through a shitty childhood, and this kid is just gonna pop out into a world with loving parents and money and food and friends. What did they do to deserve all that, while I got stuck with everything that I have? It’s not fair.” 

Ava knew that it wasn’t fair of her to be complaining about her problems when Peter had clearly come here for a reason, but how was she supposed to focus on whatever issue he had if she couldn’t even get past her own issues? And she really had thought she was past them already but what was meant to be a stupid joke suddenly brought out her real feelings on the matter. 

She could tell by the concerned looks on both Peter and Angel that neither of them knew what to say in this situation, and she felt bad for troubling them with her problems like this. They deserved better. Ava sat up abruptly, and turned her full attention to Peter, though she didn’t let go of Angel’s hand. “Enough about me. Why did you come here?”

Peter looked hesitant about whether or not he should actually share his reasons for showing up, but he must’ve decided that at the very least it would provide Ava with some kind of distraction from what she’d been thinking. “The problem is with this villain I’ve had to go up against recently. From what I’ve seen, they can move things without even touching them, which is obviously quite fascinating. I may have even accidentally let them slip away when we last faced each other because I was so in awe of watching them work. And it’s not like they were actually hurting anyone. I mean, robbery is still bad, but it’s not as bad as what some people out there do, you know?”

Ava tilted her head. “So do you need help catching them because of their power?”

Peter shook his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s actually kinda complicated.” He reached up to scratch at the back of his neck, then gave an awkward little laugh. “While we were fighting- and I don’t even know what kind of villain name they go by- I ended up hitting them in the leg harder than I meant to. Sometimes I forget that I’m stronger than the average human, and I make mistakes. But the really weird part is that this kid in my school was absent the next two days, and then they ended up coming in with a wheelchair and a cast because they’d broken their leg.”

Ava frowned. “So? You really think that a coincidence like that actually means anything?”

Peter shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. That’s why I came here. I know you haven’t gotten the chance to do the whole superhero thing for real yet, but you’re smart and I can talk to you about what’s going on, so I thought I’d at least bring it up. Do you think that it might be possible? I mean, what are the odds of a classmate getting a leg injury the same exact day that I injured a villain’s leg?”

Angel cleared her throat, happy to provide her own thoughts on the matter. “There has to be more to it than just the leg. I mean sure, that’s a bit odd, but it’s not enough to accuse someone of being a robber with superpowers. Like seven million bones get broken every year, and this is a city with a lot of people in it. It’s possible for multiple people to hurt their leg on the same day. What else do you have?”

Peter sighed. “They’re the same height as far as I can tell, though it’s not like I could pull out a tape measure and get the exact numbers while we were in the middle of a battle. The villain had a mask on so I couldn’t really get a good look at them, but I did see that they have blue eyes, which my classmate also has. And when weird or bad things happen or are about to happen, I get a feeling, and I got that around this kid while we were at school.”

The dubious look on Angel’s face was a perfect depiction of what Ava was thinking at that moment. A feeling, an eye color, and a broken leg didn’t exactly add up to a kid being a supervillain. And what would the odds be that out of everyone in the entire city, Peter would end up going up against someone who attended the same school as him?

“Look, you came for advice, and I’m advising you not to think too hard about it. I think you’re trying to find connections that don’t exist. But if you’re really that worried, then just wait until the supervillain attacks next. If it happens while your classmate still has a broken leg, then that answers that. And if it doesn’t take place until after your classmate is back on their feet, then it might be worth looking into them further. So just wait and see what happens, okay? You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you rushed in with all kinds of accusations and then turned out to be completely wrong.”

Peter sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t know why I thought that the broken leg thing would really be enough to connect two entirely separate people. Sorry for taking up your time with that. Do you want to talk more about your future sibling?”

One thing that Ava definitely did not want to do at the moment was talk more about her future sibling. It wasn’t going to lead to anything good anyways. So she decided to stay with the topic of the supervillain Peter had faced. “Hey, as much as I’m a skeptic about some things, I’m also a strong believer in following your instincts. I know I just said not to worry about it too much, but it looks like you’re going to worry about it anyways. And if your ‘spidey senses’ were really tingling, then there had to be a reason for it.”

Peter groaned. “Spidey senses? Really?”

Ava grinned. “Yup. Just deal with it, ‘cuz that’s what we’re always going to call your weird feelings from now on. You’re the one who was just asking for it by naming yourself Spiderman in the first place.”

“And it’s such an inaccurate name,” Angel laughed. “You should’ve gone for Shrimpman or Spiderinfant.”

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “Hey, I’ll have you know that I’m very strong and there’s so many villains around here who are completely terrified of me. Crime rates amongst normal people have gone done rapidly because they know how easy it would be for me to catch them.”

Angel snorted. “You sure it’s not because of the entire Avengers team and other assorted heroes dotted around? It’s not like you’re the only one in town who can scare away the baddies.”

“Laugh all you want, but while you’re getting mugged, the Avengers will be too busy fighting off aliens, so I’ll be your only option.”

That only made Angel laugh harder. “What an excellent selling point! ‘Love me as a hero because I am your last resort!’”

After giving Angel a reproachful frown, Peter couldn’t stop himself from laughing as well. “Fine, admittedly I’m not the most intimidating looking hero. But I could bench press Captain America if I wanted to.”

Ava’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Did I tell you that I beat that guy in a sparring match?”

“Really? How?” Peter sounded like he thought the captain must’ve thrown the match to make Ava feel better. As he asked that, Angel shook her head, trying to warn him that he was about to see something that really fell into the uncanny valley. 

Ava didn’t see the head shaking, and she just grinned. “Watch this!” And a moment later, there was another Ava standing in the room, though Angel found it even more unnerving than the first time she’d seen this trick, because the other Ava’s face had the completely distorted look of a computer glitch. 

The real Ava let out a little shriek of dismay, and the figure was gone a moment later. Peter looked at Ava with wide eyes. “Did you just do that? That was one of the freakiest things I’ve ever seen.”

Ava frowned. “I’ve never seen that happen before. There’s been times where I’ve gotten tired and my holograms simply went away on their own, but I’ve never seen any of them glitch like that. Looked like something straight out of a horror movie.”

Angel gave Ava a comforting pat on the back. “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, the weird evil doppelganger scenario will never happen with you because if we ever have trouble telling you apart from your hologram, we just have to wait and listen to whichever one screams like a little girl.”

Ava swatted Angel’s hand aside. “Oh shut it.” Then she looked at Peter apologetically. “Sorry you had to see that. I’ll have to work on that more later so that I can try to figure out what the hell just happened there.”

The three teenagers all seemed to shiver simultaneously at the thought of the freaky hologram. Then Peter let out an awkward laugh. “What were we even talking about that led to this?”

The girls thought about it for a moment, and then they both started laughing. “No idea.”

Ava hopped off her bed. “You guys wanna watch a movie or something?”

Peter glanced at his watch, then looked up and nodded. “Sure, as long as it’s something funny. I don’t think I’d be able to stand for an actual horror movie at the moment. I’m sure you can understand.”

Angel nodded as well. “Got nothing better to be doing.”

Ava glanced up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, can you pull up a movie for us that’s funny, but doesn’t have slapstick or potty humor?”

Angel grinned. “You know me so well.”

Then Jarvis replied, “Of course, Ava.”

The three of them made themselves more comfortable on the bed, with their backs pressed up against the wall so that they could see the TV properly. While they waited for the movie to start, Ava looked at her girlfriend. “You wanna know who’s a dick?”

Angel pretended to think about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, sure, why not?”

“My dad. Turns out he’s been Peter’s mentor for a while now, and just totally neglected to mention anything about the fact that he knows Spiderman. I wouldn’t have even asked for his real name, but the jerk didn’t say anything about it.”

Angel laughed. “You can use this against him now. Next time you want something and he doesn’t give in immediately, just remind him of how he never told you about Spiderman.”

The movie started playing, and Peter swatted playfully at Ava’s arm. “Shh, it’s starting.”

Ava covered her mouth with her free hand to try and muffle her laughter. When she got herself under control, she whispered, “Sorry,” even though she wasn’t really, and then relaxed back to enjoy the movie with her friend and her girlfriend.


	68. Chapter 68

Ava felt alarmed when she was instructed by Jarvis to go to the living room as soon as she got home. And it really sucked, because she’d still been riding the good mood of Hayden’s really stupid joke that he’d just told. Now she was feeling hesitant. No one wanted to walk into a trap. 

But Jarvis liked Ava, and probably wouldn’t send her right into a trap, at least not one of the lethal kind. So she dropped her backpack by the elevator to deal with later, told her friends to head up to her room without her, and she tentatively headed to the living room. When she walked in, she saw that Tony and Pepper were both sitting together on the couch. For some reason, Ava was reminded of in movies when people tried to hold interventions for their alcoholic friends. But since between the three of them Tony was the only one who’d ever been an alcoholic, that made no sense. 

Still, there didn’t seem to be any particular harm in sticking around and finding out what she’d been summoned for, so she didn’t just turn around and immediately run away. Instead, she sat down on the chair next to the couch, and tried to remain calm. They could probably smell fear.

When no one said anything for a very long minute, Pepper finally scooted forward and spoke. “Ava, I know that things have been a little complicated lately. I know that our family isn’t perfect, and it’s scary to think about the fact that we’re going to be getting a new member. But we want to keep you as involved in the process as possible, so that you understand what’s going on.”

“Okay…?” Ava still wasn’t sure entirely what the goal of this conversation was supposed to be. 

Tony leaned forward, taking one of Pepper’s hands in his own. “We had a doctor’s appointment today while you were in school. And we’ve officially learned that you’re going to be having a younger brother.” It sounded like he was trying to force himself to be excited, though Ava wasn’t sure if he was forcing it because he didn’t want a baby, or if it was because he wanted to try and get Ava to be excited about it too.

But Ava found that she was not at all excited by this development. They claimed that they wanted her to be involved, but she hadn’t even known that they had an appointment for today. And Ava hadn’t realized how soon it was possible to learn about the baby’s gender. Pepper wasn’t even showing yet. Or maybe she was. She had started to wear looser clothing lately, so it was possible that she was just trying to hide the baby bump for as long as possible. 

She felt like she’d been cornered, and even though she knew logically that they’d have to find out the baby’s sex at some point or another, she’d tried to push aside all thoughts of her future sibling. Or half-sibling, technically. They didn’t share the same biological mother. 

Ava stood up suddenly. “That’s great,” she said with absolutely no enthusiasm in her voice. “I’m sure you’ll all be very happy together.”

Tony stood up as well. “Ava, I understand that you’re worried about the future, but you’re not ever going to stop being a part of this family, I promise.”

She wanted to trust Tony. She wanted it so bad that it felt like a physical ache inside of her. He was her father, and he’d tried to take care of her even before learning that. He’d saved her life multiple times, and hadn’t gotten rid of her even after she’d murdered someone. And yet. 

There was a big part of Ava that screamed at her to just accept that this was the other shoe dropping. Things had been going too well for too long. And Tony would never have the same kind of connection with her as he’d be able to have with that little boy who would be born in a few months. He’d never be as close with Ava as he would be with the rotten little insurgent. Ava knew what it was like to be in a house where no one cared about her existence. That had been her hell for too many years. 

How could she possibly believe that Tony and Pepper would still have room for her in their hearts once they had their cute, perfect, normal baby? There wasn’t even any competition, it was obvious who would win their affection. There didn’t seem to be any point in trying to convince them otherwise. She didn’t want to take away their happiness, and it was obvious that this baby made them happy. Ava couldn’t help spitefully wondering what Tony had been doing when she was born. He’d probably been off drinking and partying and making weapons and sleeping with everything on legs. Now here he was, a responsible adult with a respectable job, and a home that was just so ready to have a child in it. Clearly this was his shining moment. Ava had been a mistake that he hadn’t even known about. This baby was the one who Tony actually wanted. The one he chose to have.

She shrugged. “I have to go. Hayden’s party is tonight, and I need to make sure that everything is ready.” She made sure to keep her voice steady, because she knew that if she tried to add any inflection, she might just start crying. Before Tony could give her permission to leave, or maybe ask what party she was even talking about since he’d been pretty distracted when he’d given her the okay for it, she thought of something that might come even a little bit close to hurting Tony as much as this baby was hurting her. She still remembered the conversation that she’d overheard. “Oh, and I want to try finding my biological mother,” and the unspoken ‘before you forget about me’ seemed too loud.

Tony sucked in some air in a sharp gasp, but then he nodded once. “Sure thing. Whatever you need, I’ll help you.”

Ava turned and left the living room without another word. She didn’t trust in her ability to keep her tears at bay. And she really did want to make sure that all the party plans were going like they were supposed to, because she’d promised Hayden an epic eighteenth birthday party, and she planned on delivering. 

She fetched her backpack, then headed up to the third floor so that she could drop it off in her room. Hayden and Angel were already lounging around, and Ava wondered if it was strange that they looked so at home there even though they’d known each other for such a short amount of time. It had only been a few months, really. Yet they were all so close that it didn’t really matter that it had only been a short amount of time.

Ava plopped down between the two of them. “Hey. Ready to make sure that you’re going to have the most awesome coming of age party of all time?”

Hayden shrugged. “I trust that you did a good job without me checking up on you.”

Ava snorted. “Fine. I still have to call everyone to make sure they’re on for the night. If you don’t end up totally loving this party, then I am going to be mighty offended.”

A soft bleating from the doorway caught all three teens’ attention, and they turned to see Frederick standing there. He seemed to be in the middle of chewing something shiny and pointy. Ava hopped up to walk closer and investigate, and saw that it was one of the nice pumps that Pepper had just gotten recently. She must’ve been stupid enough to kick them off somewhere nearby, since Frederick couldn’t have operated the elevator and gone to Tony and Pepper’s floor without help.

She couldn’t find it within herself to feel bad about the ruined shoe. What was one shoe compared to how ruined Ava’s life was going to be very soon? She was just lucky that she had all the resources to throw a kickass party before she lost the opportunity. Angel called out from inside the bedroom. “What’s your weird pet done now?”

Ava tried to yank the shoe free, but Frederick seemed determined to eat it. She would be worried about how it might affect the goat’s stomach, but he was a goat. She was pretty sure that goats could eat anything and be fine. “Looks like he found someone’s shoe. Hope you’re both wearing yours!”

Hayden immediately darted out of the bedroom. “That monster better not be eating me-!” He relaxed when he saw the heel still sticking out of Frederick’s mouth. Just to be on the safe side though, he went around the couch to scoop up his shoes from where he’d kicked them off. “Your goat is a menace. Why can’t you just have a normal pet?”

Ava couldn’t help laughing. “When have I ever done anything the normal way? I just don’t think that it’s in my DNA to be able to do that.”

“Obviously not,” Hayden muttered. “You share DNA with Tony freakin’ Stark, of course you’re not going to be able to do things in a normal way.”

Angel poked her head out of the bedroom. “Oh good. I was making sure that Frederick didn’t decide to eat either of you. You’re probably about just as good as a tin can in the eyes of that monstrosity. What are you going to do once he gets bigger?”

Ava shrugged. “I’ve had him for a while now, and I’ve yet to see any sudden growth spurts, so I’m just going to assume that he’s a full grown adult goat who also happens to be a midget among goat-kind. When I bought him, I’m pretty sure that I specifically looked for a breed that would be easiest to keep in a house. There weren’t any specific recommendations for a tower goat.” 

Hayden frowned as he turned to chuck his shoes into Ava’s room, and then turned back to Ava. “I’m pretty sure that goats are social animals. Like wolves are something. You shouldn’t have just one of them, because he’ll get lonely.”

Ava gave her pet a scrutinizing look. “I dunno. He always seems happy enough to have me. Though I guess I’ve been spending more time away from him now that I have friends who are like normal people.”

Angel rolled her eyes. “I’m vaguely offended by the fact that you think we’re normal people.”

Ava barely paid any attention to her girlfriend’s quip as she thought about what Hayden had just said. Was she an abusive pet owner for not getting a little goat friend for Frederick? How likely was it that Tony would notice if Ava were to buy another goat? If she got one that looked similar enough to Frederick, who wasn’t even supposed to leave the third floor anyways, then Tony would only be able to see either of them if he glanced up at the balcony, and he probably wouldn’t think anything of it. The only problem would be the delivery of it, but it wouldn’t be that difficult to find a time where neither of the responsible adults would be home. 

Hayden waved his hand in front of Ava’s face a few times, and she blinked as she snapped out of her thoughts. “Sorry, what?”

Hayden laughed. “Nothing, I was just trying to figure out how long you planned on being checked out. You were going to make sure that my super epic party is ready for launch, right?”

Ava nodded. “Yeah, of course. Jarvis, find a movie to play for these goobers while I make those phone calls.”

“Of course, Ava.” 

Then she went onto the elevator. She could hear Hayden and Angel bickering about what movie they wanted to watch as the elevator doors slid shut. Then she rode up to the roof, and got out. She liked the roof. It was nice, and gave her a great view of the city. Probably one of the best views there was, considering how tall the tower was. 

She had her phone appear, and began the tedious process of calling everyone hired for the party to double check that they were going to be there. She wanted to make sure that everything went perfectly for Hayden, since she knew her own eighteenth birthday wouldn’t be nearly so grand. By then, Pepper would be even closer to giving birth to the new baby, and no one would even have time to remember Ava was there.

It took a while, but she went through everyone on the list for the party, and she grinned before heading back down to her room. Hayden and Angel were slumped up against each other, and they were halfway through some really cheesy looking samurai movie. “Hey, do you wanna come and make sure the decorations look alright? We still have a little bit of time before the party starts, but I thought you might want to be fashionably early.”

Hayden nodded amicably as he stood up. “Sure.” 

“I’m going to finish the movie first,” Angel informed them. “I’ll meet you there in a bit.”

As Hayden and Ava got onto the elevator, Hayden smiled. “You know, I was just joking before when I mentioned that you should throw me an awesome birthday party with all of your rich person money. I didn’t think you’d actually go for it.”

Ava shrugged. “What can I say? I’m just a generous soul who is totally not doing this as an excuse to meet celebrities.”

Hayden peered at Ava out of the corner of his eye. “Celebrities? What celebrities?”

Ava grinned. “I’m Iron Man’s kid. I know a lot of people. How many kids get to brag about having actual superheroes at their birthday party?”

The grin that rose on Hayden’s face matched Ava’s. “You’re an absolutely amazing friend. Of course I mostly love you for your money and connections and awesome superpowers, but whatever. Details, man.”

They reached the floor that Ava had decided to hold the party on, and stepped out. The whole floor had been decorated, with some professional help, to meet a galaxy theme, with the ceiling covered in glittering stars, and the walls painted a dark purple, with glow in the dark streaks everywhere for once it got darker out. There were golden tassels dangling down from the ceiling too, and as they spun around, they cast an almost magical glow over the space. 

There was a giant trampoline set up over in one corner, with a bunch of soft mats spread out beneath it. There was a drink bar set up, though all of the drinks were non-alcoholic, since most of the party goers were under twenty-one. There was a long table where all the catered food was going to be laid out, and a small platform for the band to play from. One of the walls was lined with old fashioned arcade games that had been rigged to not need coins to play them. There was a mini racetrack in one room, with realistic toy race cars that could be raced against each other. There was a room with three giant TVs set up and a couple of different gaming consoles, and lots of spare controllers and games. 

Hayden looked at Ava, and he seemed to be overwhelmed. “Dude, this is incredible. You didn’t have to go through so much trouble just for me.”

Ava smiled. “Happy eighteen.”

Angel ended up coming down about half an hour later, and she was equally impressed by all the effort that had gone into making the party just perfect. The various people who’d been hired for the night came a little while after that to start getting ready. Ava showed the catering company to the kitchen on that floor so that they knew where to find their base of operations, while Angel showed the band the platform. Hayden stared in awe at his favorite band setting up their equipment right in front of him. The bartender and the bookie for the race track showed up next, and settled into their respective areas. The company who’d been hired as wait staff appeared, looking very professional. 

It wasn’t long after that that all the guests started showing up. Ava almost felt bad for the receptionist down in the lobby of the tower who had to let each one through. Everyone from the hired staff and the guests had been given temporary IDs that would expire in the morning, but they still all had to be checked in and scanned. 

The table with the gifts on it was soon stacked up so high that it looked like it was about to just topple over. Hayden made his way over to Ava through the crowd. “Did you invite the entire school or something?”

Ava shrugged. “I figured that it isn’t a proper bash until there’s so many people that you get lost between them all.”

“Well, it’s fantastic either way! Look at all those presents I’m getting! I feel like I’ve been mistaken for someone who’s actually popular or something!”

Ava laughed, then watched as Hayden hurried off in the direction of the game room. She was fully confident in his ability to get his butt kicked in whatever games were being played in there. 

After a while, Angel found Ava. “Hey, I hate to bounce, but I need to head home. You did a really great job here. I don’t think I’ve seen Hayden look this happy in a long time. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” Then she leaned over to steal a quick kiss before stepping onto the elevator.

Ava wasn’t really sure what to do with herself during the party. She didn’t really feel in a partying mood, thanks to the earlier ambush courtesy of Pepper and Tony, but she didn’t want to do anything to curb Hayden’s excitement. Luckily, having so many people around meant that no one noticed as she took the elevator back up to the living quarters. When she stepped off on the third floor, she immediately spotted Tony on the couch. 

“Is there something I can do for you?” She asked politely. 

Tony stood up and stretched. “I’ve been waiting here a while. What have you been up to?”

“I told you that Hayden’s party was tonight. You’re the one who gave me permission to have it here, remember?” It was clear from the look on Tony’s face that he did not, in fact, remember. Ava rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You can ask Jarvis to look it up for you. It was the same day you gave me permission to sleep over Angel’s house.”

A look of understanding settled on Tony’s face, and he nodded. “I see.” He stood there awkwardly for a moment before sitting back down, and motioning for Ava to do the same. “You know, it was a lot easier to know about this kind of stuff when the money came out of my accounts. I find it odd to have you independently rich when you aren’t even an adult yet.”

Ava shrugged. “What did you want? You must’ve been waiting up here for a reason.”

Tony looked like he wanted to get up, and maybe get a drink or something, but he must’ve managed to push down the urge, because he stayed where he was. “I wanted to talk about earlier. I meant it when I said that I’d help you track down your birth mother, but I thought it would be only fair to tell you that I have absolutely no idea of where to even start.”

Ava glanced over at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was three in the morning. Even though she wasn’t tired, she let out an exaggerated yawn. “Great, so you’re going to be no help with this then. I’m really tired, Tony. I’ll see you in the morning.” Then she got back onto the elevator to head to the party, not caring how obvious it was that she was just making up an excuse to get away. 

Truthfully, Ava didn’t really care about getting to know her birth mother. At least Tony had always had the excuse of not even knowing Ava existed, but how could her mother possibly justify not being a part of her life? And Ava didn’t need any more family. She was satisfied with what she had. She just wished that they were equally satisfied with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, Ava’s kind of being a jerk lately, but who can really blame her? This is a very difficult time in her life. 
> 
>  


	69. Chapter 69

There were few things in life that Ava had absolutely no tolerance for. She’d learned the hard way that alcohol was one of them- she’d never be repeating that horrible hospital visit again if she could help it. Another was neglectful parents, which she seemed to have more of than most. But something that she absolutely could not forgive was bullying. 

So when she was walking down the hallway at school on the way back from the bathroom, just a few days after Hayden’s epic birthday party, she was enraged to see just that going down. Two seniors that Ava vaguely recognized from one of her classes were in the middle of shoving a smaller kid into the lockers several times over. Not only was bullying completely unacceptable, but at the rate they were going, they were going to cause some serious injuries to that poor kid. 

She let out an angry screech, and stomped closer to the scene. “Stop it!”

One of the bullies turned to look at her while the other kept their current victim pinned up against the blue metal lockers. “I’m sorry, were you talking to me? Why don’t you just hurry along sweetheart, before things get too serious.” This was the last straw. Ava was already pissed off about so many things going on in her life, and at least this was one thing that she could do something about.

Ava clenched her jaw, and before she could even give herself time to think it over, she swung at the jerk’s face as hard as she could. It hurt, but the practice she’d gotten from Steve ensured that she wasn’t stupid enough to break her own fingers, and the boy staggered back, clearly surprised by the attack.

The other boy let go of their victim, who stayed frozen in place up against the lockers, and stalked closer to Ava. “What the hell is your problem?”

Ava scowled. “My problem is that meat heads like you think that you somehow have the right to go around beating up people who are smaller and more helpless than you. Does it make you feel like a real man to hurt someone when they have no chance to defend themselves because it’s two on one?”

The boy cracked his knuckles. “Look, I really don’t want to hit a girl, so-”

Ava darted forward and closed the gap between them, and rammed her knee up between the guy’s legs. “Well this girl has no problem hitting you.” She cracked her own knuckles. “Now I really think that you two should be on your way before you get yourselves hurt even worse.”

The first boy staggered forward, and there was a big bruise already forming around his eye. “You bitch,” he growled out. “You’re just asking for it now!”

He rushed at her, but Ava easily deflected the blow, and then kicked him between the legs as well. He collapsed to the floor next to his buddy. “Have you had enough yet? Because I could go on like this all day.” When all she got for an answer were pained groans, she looked over at the younger kid. “You should probably get out of here.”

The younger boy frowned. “Why did you help me?” Before Ava could give some bull answer about how her dad was a superhero which gave her an obligation to help people, he continued. “They’re just going to be even more angry now. They’re going to be even meaner when they come after me again.”

The kid wasn’t being ungrateful; he looked genuinely afraid of the future possibilities. Ava nodded once. “You’re right. Which is why I’m going to make sure that they never come after you, or anyone else, ever again. Now you should really get out of here.”

She was ready to stomp these losers into the ground, but then she felt someone grab her arm, and she saw that it was still the kid standing there. “Don’t sink to their level. Fighting violence with violence isn’t the answer.”

Ava took in several deep breaths. “Will you report them to the principal?”

The kid shook his head. “There’s no point. They’re both star jocks, and the principal wouldn’t risk getting them out of the school, so he would maybe give them a reprimand, and that’s just something else that will only make them more angry. Let’s just both get out of here. I’m sure they’ve learned their lesson, and they won’t be coming after anyone for a little while at least. That’s good enough.”

Even though she sort of understood what the kid was saying, Ava really wanted to work out some of her anger, preferably by beating up some people who deserved it. And if they really did just walk away now, then it wouldn’t solve anything. As soon as the boys were healed, they’d be back to their old ways.

After thinking for a moment, she grabbed the kid’s arm, and began pulling him in the direction of the principal’s office, leaving the boys curled up on the ground. They’d pick themselves up sooner or later, and most likely wouldn’t say anything because they’d be too ashamed at having been beaten up by a ‘little girl’. 

When the kid realized where they were headed, he stopped walking. “I told you, there’s no point in reporting it. It’ll only make things worse.”

Ava sighed, and she turned to look the kid in the eyes. “Look, I know how it feels to be bullied by people like them. The kids at my old school were evil villains in the making. One of them even pushed me in front of a moving car. And all that was just because they thought that I was too quiet and strange. I didn’t deserve to go through that. And you don’t deserve to go through that either, no matter what reasons they try to throw at you. You deserve better. And I can fix this. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen me around the school before, but I’m kinda famous, because my dad is Tony Stark. He could buy this entire school out a thousand times over if he wanted to, and I’m not afraid to throw his name around to get what I want.” It was still something that felt a bit uncomfortable to her, but she was getting more and more used to using her dad’s influence to get what she needed.

The kid looked surprised. “Are you serious? Is your dad really Tony Stark?”

“Yup. You could even look it up if you wanted to. It was all over the news a little while back because there was a bit of a misunderstanding where some people thought some bad things about him, but they were wrong.” Ava almost missed the trial now that she thought back to it. Of course at the time it had been frightening and confusing, but now she could see it as a time where Tony wanted nothing more than to get her back. Things were a lot different now, and they’d only be even more different once the new baby was born. But at least before that, Ava could make a difference here and now. “I’m Ava, by the way,” she added. “Ava Stark.”

The kid grinned, and all his previous apprehension had apparently just melted away. “Awesome! I’m Miles.”

Ava was glad to have the kid- Miles- onboard with her idea, and she continued leading him to the principal’s office. When they got there, she took a deep breath before barging in without even knocking. She walked right past the sputtering secretary, and into the principal's actual little office. The man looked up, clearly surprised by the sudden intruders.

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “Mr. Henley, we need to talk. This school supposedly has a zero tolerance policy for bullying of any sort, but I just found two seniors picking on this kid,” she gestured to Miles, who looked young even for a freshman. “And I don’t just mean a few insults, not that that would be acceptable. I mean that they were using inappropriate slurs, and physically assaulting him. I understand that they are both invaluable to the sports department, but I cannot stand for a school that allows people like that to walk around freely.”

The principal blinked a few times as he took all of that in. “I’m sure that this is all just some kind of misunderstanding, Miss…?”

“Stark. Ava Stark. And I’m sure that my father would not be at all pleased to hear about the way you run this school. I find it sickening that you’ve knowingly allowed this behavior to continue, even after having this reported to you before.” Or at least, she assumed that Miles had reported it before, based on how he’d talked earlier. “I am sorely disappointed in you and in this school. And there was no misunderstanding. They were picking the kid up and throwing him into the walls while saying horrible things. I did not misunderstand that. The only one who seems to be operating under a misunderstanding here is you. You seem to believe that being a jock gives someone permission to do whatever the hell they want around here, when in fact no one should ever be allowed to bully anyone else for any reason. If you don’t come up with a permanent solution to this problem, that won’t endanger any of their previous victims even further, then I will have you kicked to the curb before you can even say the word ‘misunderstanding’ again.”

Mr. Henley looked completely at a loss as to what to do. Finally, he cleared his throat. “What were the names of these students?”

Ava glanced at Miles, and luckily, he knew the answer. “Scott Faraday and Lucky Pattel.”

The principal gulped, the nodded once. “I will look into the matter as soon as possible, you have my word on that. Though need I really tell you how inappropriate it is to come in here without an appointment, or any kind of permission?”

Ava leaned over the desk, and the principal actually leaned back, as though trying to get away from the angry teenager. “What’s inappropriate here is your inability to keep the students in your school safe, and to properly discipline those who turn this school into an unsafe environment.” She slammed her hand down on the desk, and Mr. Henley actually jumped up in surprise. “Now you take care of this problem ASAP, or I will take care of you.” 

Then she abruptly spun around, grabbed Miles, and pulled him out of the office, ignoring the sound of the annoyed secretary. When they walked past the nurse’s office, she could see that the two jocks had made their way in, and she wondered if they’d blame her for their injuries, or if they would come up with some other excuse.

After she’d been walking aimlessly for a few minutes, Miles came to a sudden stop, and he tugged on her arm to get her to stop too. Ava had almost forgotten about the kid. She arched one eyebrow, and he gave her a shy smile. “That was really cool of you to do that. I’m not sure how much help it will actually be, but it means the world to me to have someone stick up for me like that.” He let go of Ava’s arm so that he could surge forward and pull her into a hug. “Thank you.”

Ava gave an awkward laugh, then patted the top of Miles’ head. “Don’t thank me until we actually see something come out of this. Though I swear if those idiots aren’t expelled immediately, I will get that principal fired. He’s clearly incompetent at his job to have let such a severe problem last for so long.”

“Your dad must be proud of you. You’re just like a superhero, swooping in to protect people from bullies.”

Suddenly, Ava wasn’t in the mood to return to class, and it was math of all things, which meant that she’d have no problem making up the work some other time. She raised both of her eyebrows, and a mischievous smile stretched across her face. “Oh kid, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

,,,

When Jarvis called her up, Ava only answered long enough to say, “I’m safe and sane and perfectly fine, and I will be home at some point,” and then she hung up. 

Miles gave her a look that was equally curious and excited. “Were you just talking to yourself?”

Ava snorted. “No. It’s another neat thing in my bag of tricks. Saves me from having to pay a phone bill, not that being stingy with money is really something that I need to worry about too much, but I like to think of myself as an optimist.”

Miles seemed a little doubtful about that last statement, but the stars in his eyes were shining too brightly for him to question his new idol. And this was all a completely new feeling to Ava. She had been loved before, and she had friends and family who cared about her, but she had never been so celebrity worshipped before. That’s the closest term she could think of to describe the way that Miles was looking at her. No wonder her dad had become famous. This feeling was pretty nice. 

“So you can make anything?”

Ava nodded proudly. “Yes indeed I can, sir. Why? You have any requests?”

Miles tilted his head, and got a thoughtful look on his face. “Can you make a puppy? I’ve always wanted one, but my apartment building doesn’t allow any pets.”

Ava frowned. “Well, when I make living things, they don’t always come out exactly right. And besides, you wouldn’t be able to keep the puppy anyways, because as soon as I stop touching it it would just disappear, and I have no idea what my range is, sorry.”

Miles shrugged. “Can you just try anyways?”

Since she couldn’t think of any way to distract him, which was surprising since she’d always assumed that teenage boys had the attention spans of fruit flies. Or maybe that was just Hayden. So Ava took in a deep breath, and hoped for the best. That weird glitchiness that had happened when she’d tried to show off her clone to Hayden had been really freaky, and she didn’t want to see anything like that again. And she definitely didn’t want Miles to see anything like that at all. The poor kid was probably traumatized enough at the moment as it was. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, and focused on making the perfect little puppy for Miles. The kid actually had a bit of a puppyish look about him, at least in a metaphorical way, and she decided to focus on that for her inspiration. When she felt a solid, furry mass in her arms, she slowly opened her eyes to look at her creation. It was an adorable little chocolate lab, with just a faint green tinge to it. 

Ava blinked a few times in surprise, and then the dog surged forward to lick her face and bark softly a couple of times. She was startled by that because she hadn’t given the dog any direction to do anything like that. With her double back when she’d been sparring with Captain America, she’d had to put a lot of concentration into keeping both herself and her double moving productively. But the puppy didn’t seem to have the same restriction. 

She quickly made sure that there was a thin thread connecting her to the dog, and then she let him jump out of her arms and bound over to Miles. The kid looked overjoyed at the sight, and he crouched down to start petting the dog. When it barked happily, he kept going, until it rolled over and showed its belly, tongue hanging out of its mouth. 

Miles looked up at Ava after a few minutes of playing with the puppy, which acted just like a real puppy, even when Ava specifically requested that it stay still. She was a little worried about what this meant for her control over her power. “She’s the most adorable thing ever! Can I give her a name? And even though I can’t keep her, maybe you could bring her back for me to hang out with sometimes?”

Ava sighed. “Sure, name the thing. Just remember that it’s all numbers and code.” Even though she kept her tone relaxed, on the inside, she was feeling quite nervous. Maybe creating living holograms was a bad idea, and a path that she should’ve never gone down in the first place. Even though Miles seemed happy, which was really nice compared to the scared kid he’d been a few hours ago, the idea that she couldn’t control her own holograms was unsettling.

Which is why she made the dog disappear after a few more minutes, and she offered Miles an apologetic look. “Sorry, but I need enough juice left to power my wings so that I can get both of us home.”

Miles accepted that explanation easily enough. “It’s alright. I’m still reeling from the amazement of all this. I mean, obviously I knew that people with superpowers existed, but I never really thought of them as existing in the same high school as me. It’s really awesome. But I haven’t seen you on the news at all. Do you only work in other cities since New York already has a bunch of heroes?”

He couldn’t have known that that was a touchy subject with Ava, so she did her best to smile. “No, it’s not that. I’m still breaking into the business. And by that I mean that my dad is kinda worried about me being a hero so he’s put tons of restrictions on it, like a million hours of training to know how to fight, and only being able to go on patrols with established heroes like himself and Spiderman, and-”

Miles quickly cut in. “Spiderman? You know Spiderman?” Ava nodded, and Miles clasped his hands together as though her were about to start praying. “You have to introduce me to him- please! He’s been my personal hero for ages, and I’ve always looked up to him, and I would just die for the chance to actually meet him in person!”

Ava could understand the excitement, since she’d acted the same way when she’d tracked down Spiderman just for the chance to get to know him. Though in her case it had been more to make her argument against her father stronger, it was the same basic thought. “I’ll do my best, but no promises. He’s a busy guy. All the active heroes are.” She glanced up at the sky, and saw that it was starting to get a little pink. “It’s probably about time for me to take you home, okay? We can hang out in school tomorrow at lunch or something.”

Miles looked surprised by that. “Really? Wouldn’t it ruin your reputation to sit with a freshman?”

“Nah,” Ava snorted. “The only people I hang out with in school are losers, though, so don’t go getting your hopes up. Now come on.” Her wings were out a moment later, and Miles out a whistle of appreciation at the sight of them. Ava preened under the attention, and it felt more exhilarating than usual as she flew Miles to his home, and then she made her way back to hers.


	70. Chapter 70

Lunch with Miles at their table wasn’t awkward at all. As soon as he sat down, Hayden gave him a strange look, but Ava quickly gave out introductions, and ended it with, “This is Miles. He’s going to be sitting with us from now on.”

Angel shot her a look that clearly meant Ava would have to explain more later, and Ava gave a slight nod before turning back to her food. Hayden finished his food first, since he was a teenage boy who seemed to have the super power of infinite space in his stomach, and he turned to face Miles. “So how did you and Ava meet?”

Miles grinned. “She’s awesome! There were a couple of bullies, but she took care of them because she’s a superhero!” Then he immediately realized his slip up and reached up to slap one hand against his mouth. 

Ava snorted. “Relax, kid. These two weirdos already know about me. You’re not so special that I’d let you in on the secret before I even tell my girlfriend or best friend.”

Miles’ eyes widened, and he seemed to be amazed. He looked back and forth between Ava and Angel. “You guys are girlfriends? Like you’re dating each other?”

Angel arched one eyebrow. “That is what it means to be girlfriends, yeah.”

For some reason, that seemed to amaze Miles even more. “That’s awesome! I didn’t know that superheroes could be gay!”

“What are you talking about?”

Miles shrugged. “I thought that since everyone looks up to heroes, they’d have to act all prim and proper all the time, you know?”

Hayden sighed, and reached out to put a hand on one of Miles’ shoulders. “Listen, new buddy, you probably didn’t even realize it, but that was just a little bit offensive. It sounds a bit like you’re implying that people in gay relationships aren’t doing anything proper. And believe me, PDA is not a problem from the two of them. Unfortunately,” he added with a leer and a few ridiculous eyebrow waggles. “But the point is that-”

“I get it, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” Miles swore. “I just never thought that I’d see someone like a hero also be like me.”

The three seniors let out a collective sigh as they realized what Miles was talking about. “So you’re gay?”

Miles hesitated for a moment before he shrugged. “I’m not sure. I mean, I definitely like guys. But I also like girls.”

Angel leaned forward to grab one of Miles’ hands. “You’re probably bi, then. Nothing wrong with that, other than all the assholes who claim it doesn’t even exist. But just ignore those people. Whoever you end up falling in love with won’t change who you are, okay? Ava could be a superhero whether she liked me, or that guy,” and she gestured to some random kid on the other side of the cafeteria. Everyone else looked over to see who had been singled out, and Angel cringed. “Alright, maybe not that guy. You would have to be the devil to like that kind.”

“Are you saying that you like that guy?” Hayden joked. 

Angel narrowed her eyes and lunged across the table to start bitching her friend out. While the two of them were busy going at each other, Ava stood up, picking up her empty tray. She pressed a light kiss to the back of Angel’s head, and then she motioned for Miles to follow her over to the trash cans. They dumped out their trays, and headed out of the cafeteria. 

Miles seemed mildly concerned. “Aren’t they going to be worried when they realize that you left?”

“Nah. This kind of thing happens all the time. And besides that, if you ever have friends or significant others who won’t let you go anywhere without them or without telling them exactly where you’ll be, then you should dump them.”

Miles took a moment to absorb that advice, and then he shrugged. “I guess that makes sense. So where are we going? No offense, but I really can’t afford to skip anymore classes.”

Ava reached up to press one hand against her heart and spoke in a completely over dramatic voice. “Miles! You wound me! Do you really believe that a superhero such as myself would ever do anything as irresponsible as encouraging children to not make school their number one priority? I’m so hurt right now.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Really though, where are we going? There’s only like ten minutes until lunch is over anyways.”

“Then that is ten minutes that we could be spending outside, enjoying the great outdoors.”

Miles grinned, and followed Ava towards the emergency exit that everyone knew had a broken siren. It was where kids snuck out all the time so that they wouldn’t have to go past the front office, where they’d be forced to justify their reason for leaving school. And technically both Miles and Ava were minors, which meant that they couldn’t dismiss themselves from school without a guardian present, so there was no point in even trying. 

By the time they got outside, there was really only a few minutes to laze around, and they stayed near the exit door to make sure they didn’t accidentally wind up getting locked up. But even so, it was still fun, and Ava was glad to have taken Miles under her wing. He clearly needed an awesome mentor to look up to, and she had to admit that she enjoyed the admiration in his eyes every time he looked at her. There was no harm in enjoying some hero worship from a friend, so Ava was content to let things just stay the way that they were. 

,,,

A little while after she got home, Jarvis announced that Tony was on the third floor, and looking to talk to Ava. Since she’d only been lying around and procrastinating on doing her homework, she magnanimously decided to grant the man some of her time. She didn’t bother getting up, though, so she just told Jarvis to tell Tony that he had permission to enter. 

The door swung open a moment later, and Tony peered into the room. When he saw the textbooks and notebooks scattered around Ava on the bed, he frowned. “I can come back later if you’re in the middle of something.”

Ava shrugged. “It’s fine, come in.” 

He walked over to the desk chair and sat down, and there was a strange look on his face that Ava didn’t really recognize. “I know that you want to meet your biological mother sooner rather than later. I thought that if I looked through your mom’s journal it would help, but it only starts after she took you, so it isn’t very helpful. I’m not sure if I’ll actually be able to find the information anywhere, but I think my best bet would be if I looked through Ob- through Stane’s notes.”

“Okay.” Ava wasn’t really sure why Tony was telling her this instead of just getting to it. She didn’t actually care about meeting her mother, but she needed to know that she’d have some family out there even after Tony and Pepper kicked her to the curb to make room for their new baby. 

Tony sighed. “The problem is the notes themselves. A secret project like what he was working on with you wouldn’t be kept on the normal Stark Industries databases. But Stane was unfortunately smart. He knew that I was always good with computers, so I feel like he wouldn’t have wanted to risk keeping the data on any server that I could potentially access. I wouldn’t put it past him to have kept it all as hard copies just to spite me, you know?”

Ave still wasn’t sure why Tony was coming to her with any of this. “Okay, but what do you possibly think that I could do about it? It’s not like he sat around telling me about where he kept all of his important test information. For some reason, after he kidnapped me it didn’t occur to either of us to stay up all night gossiping and eating chocolate.”

Tony blinked a few times, then nodded once. “Right, I know that. I just thought I’d tell you that I am looking into it, but he could have hidden that information anywhere, so it might take a while to get to it. But I’ve also thought of a potential alternate solution. What if we just put out some kind of public announcement saying that we’re looking for your bio mother? We can give a very vague description of the circumstances around your birth, and I doubt that anyone could forget anything about that. Then when people show up, we can just run DNA tests to see if they’re really your mom.”

He looked so pleased with himself for coming up with that idea. “Did you just get finished watching the movie Annie or something? You know that’ll never work in real life. Hundreds of women are going to show up just for a chance to access my accounts, or yours. And what if my real mom doesn’t even know about me? Like what if she just donated her eggs or something but not her uterus?”

Tony’s shoulders slumped down. “I suppose you’re right.” He looked so disappointed, like he’d thought that Ava would be pleased by his hard work into the matter of finding Ava’s mom. But the harder he worked to find the woman, the more it felt like he was just trying to find someone to pawn Ava off onto. And she knew that that was a really unfair assessment, since she was the one who’d asked him for this in the first place, but she couldn’t control the way that she felt. Tony stood up, looking rather dejected, and he headed towards the door. While he was in the doorway, he paused and turned around to face Ava, who bent her head down to look at her boring textbooks. “I love you,” he said softly. “I just want what’s best for you.”

“If you wanted what’s best for me then you wouldn’t be trying to replace me,” Ava snapped. Then her eyes widened, and she looked up at Tony and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” Now Tony was just going to kick her out early, since she couldn’t help being a bitter idiot about the whole mess. 

Tony looked surprised, and maybe a bit sad, but he didn’t look angry. He closed his eyes for a moment, and took in a deep breath before sitting down on the bed next to Ava. “Is that really what you feel like is happening?”

It was too late to take it back now, and Ava decided that she may as well be completely honest. She knew that it would only make her sound selfish and greedy, but if Tony really wanted to know what was going through Ava’s mind, then she was going to tell him. “Yes. I know you regret not having me from the time I was a baby, and this new kid is going to be your chance to try again. He’s going to have everything I ever wanted growing up, and you’re going to be so busy showering him in love to make sure he’s not neglected, that you’re not going to have any left for me anymore. You don’t need me, and I don’t think that you ever really did.” She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks, despite her best efforts to keep them inside. “I know you think that I won’t need you anymore, but you’re my dad, of course I’m always going to need you. But when you don’t want me around anymore, I’m just going to be that weird and clingy ghost in the background. Or maybe I’ll go off to college or something, and you’ll just forget all about me, I don’t know. I thought that we were already a happy family with the way things were, so the only reason you could have for bringing in someone new is that I was never enough for you. And the baby’s going to be perfect, without all the damage that I’ve got. You won’t have to worry about him being a liability to your team who gets things wrong all of the time, and-” her voice cracked, and more tears slipped out. 

Tony leaned over to pull Ava into a tight hug. “Oh Ava,” he sighed. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“You seemed so happy,” she mumbled. “I didn’t want to ruin that for you.”

Tony ran his hand through Ava’s hair, and he made soft comforting noises until her tears finally stopped. She sniffled a few times, but wasn’t actually crying anymore. Then Tony leaned back so that he could look Ava into the eyes. “You can’t even begin to understand how much you’ve done to save me, Ava. You’ve made me a much happier person. You make me want to be a better person for you. And yeah, I do regret that I couldn’t have known you your whole life, but only because it kills me to know how much suffering you had to go through before we found each other. And honestly, you scare me sometimes.”

“I know that I shouldn’t have killed-”

“Not because of that,” Tony interrupted. “You scare me because every time I look at you, I know that if you ever get hurt, it’s going to tear me up inside. Whether it’s me seeing you bleeding out or crying out, it hurts me to know that there’s nothing I can do. And having another kid is only going to make that worse. I’m going to have at least fifty heart attacks before they’re even in high school.” He sighed, and took a moment to think of the other things Ava had gotten out during her rambling. “And I know that no one’s ever taught you about this stuff before, but love doesn’t work the way that you think it does. People don’t just have a limited amount that they have to divide out. I can love you and your brother equally, and I promise that I will.”

Ava narrowed her eyes. “How are you going to do that? You’re going to be around him all the time, and I probably won’t even be around.” 

Tony scooted back so that he was leaning up against the wall, and then he gently tugged on Ava so that she was tucked up against him. “I promise you that it doesn’t work like that, and I wouldn’t want it to. You’re my daughter, Ava. No matter what happens or how far apart we are, nothing is going to change that.” Ava sniffled again, but didn’t respond to that. Tony felt so out of his league. He’d never had any good examples of what parents should be like, and he just wished that he knew all the magical right things to say that would make everything better. He hadn’t been lying before; seeing Ava look this miserable really did hurt him like nothing he’d ever imagined. He wished that there was a book or a class or something that would tell him how to fix it when his child was hurting. “There’s something else I need to tell you, okay? And I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t think it mattered, but it’s about the baby.” Ava tensed up, clearly ready for him to suddenly agree that he was a replacement child. “He couldn’t have possibly been a planned replacement for you, because he was a complete accident.” 

Ava blinked a few times in surprise, and tilted her head back so that she could look at Tony. “What?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know if you’ve taken sex ed yet, but even condoms aren’t one hundred percent-”

Ava immediately raised her hands to block her ears. “Don’t tell me that!” she screeched. “I don’t even want to think about your sex life!”

When she finally lowered her hands again, Tony offered her a small smile. “Alright, no details then. But it’s true that he’s a total accidental pregnancy. Even after knowing you, I would’ve been way too scared to willingly try for another kid.”

There really wasn’t any reason for Tony to lie about this. If the new kid was intended to be a replacement, then Tony was getting rid of Ava anyways, and wouldn’t be bothered by the idea of hurting her feelings. Which meant that he was telling her because it was true. They hadn’t even planned on having another kid.

She sniffled as she pulled away from Tony, and left a sizable space between them. “I know it makes me sound selfish, but I don’t want to share,” she said softly, while fidgeting with her hands. “I went almost my whole life without any attention at all from my parents, so actually getting that, from you and from Pepper, has been amazing. I know that I’m almost an adult, and I need to be able to take care of myself without any help now, but I still don’t want to give up that attention. Even if you don’t mean for the baby to become your first priority, that’s still what’s going to happen.”

“Maybe. But that’s because he’ll be a baby, and he won’t be capable of doing anything without an adult’s help. But that doesn’t make this some kind of competition between the two of you, okay? Honestly, you shouldn’t even be that worried. My guess is that as soon as I take one whiff of a dirty diaper, or end up using baby talk during a board meeting, I’ll be running back to you and begging you to come home. I know that it isn’t fair that the beginning years of your life were stolen from you, and they can never be given back. All the time we spent apart can never be changed or made up for. But in the time that I have known you, even before I knew you were actually my kid, I thought that you were the best thing to ever happen to me.” He reached over to take both of Ava’s hands. “I know that you have no reason to believe me, but it’s the truth. No one can ever take your place in my heart, or in Pepper’s.”

Ava’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she figured out what she wanted to say. “I don’t actually want to find my birth mother. I only said that because I thought that it might hurt your feelings, and because I thought that I’d need a place to stay once you got tired of me.”

Tony yanked Ava forward into another hug. “We’re both just a couple of idiots, huh?”

“Speak for yourself,” Ava told him before choking out a small laugh. 

Tony sighed, and let Ava relax into his arms. “We’re going to be alright,” he promised. Maybe Ava would always feel some kind of resentment for her younger brother. And with the nearly twenty year age difference between them, it was going to be difficult to get them to see each other as siblings. But even if the two of them never ended up getting along very well, Tony would never let Ava lose even an ounce of the love that he had for her. “You’re going to be alright,” he whispered.


	71. Chapter 71

“Okay, so you’ll definitely want to make sure that he’s nowhere near the front of the room. His enthusiasm will be a lot less endearing when he ends up splattering wine all over your dress.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Everyone in the Avengers will be seated at the same table as Tony and me, or the ones that are closest to ours. They’re basically family, and it wouldn’t feel right to try and split them all up.”

Ava arched one eyebrow. “Does this count as your confession that you don’t actually have any friends who aren’t superheroes? Because I think that that would count as like the ultimate first world problem.” She frowned as she thought about her own words. “Why aren’t there superheroes in like third world countries? They must need them just as much there, if not more.”

Pepper smiled. “It’s nice that you care. You could take it up with Tony. I’m sure he’d be overjoyed to have another charity to run. It could be like Doctors Without Borders, but it would be superheroes instead. But for right now, can we please focus on the seating chart? We need to get this done as quickly as possible so that we can move on to the stationary shop after this to pick out the cards for the invitations, and then after that we need to stop by the bridal shop for another fitting session.”

With a teasing grin, Ava gave Pepper a quick up and down. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be easier to hold the wedding after the fact? Surely the guy you hired is tired of constantly adding new material to the dress to make it stretch around your stomach.”

Pepper narrowed her eyes. “Did you just call me fat?”

Ava held her hands up like she was innocent. “No, of course not, I would never do that. That would just be so mean and irresponsible.” Pepper took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out, staring intently at Ava the entire time. Ava grinned. “On the other hand, I’d hate to be a liar-”

“I’m going to get you for that,” Pepper threatened. 

There was only a split second for Ava to realize the consequences of what she’d done, and she immediately spun around to bolt out of the room. She couldn’t help laughing loudly as she ran, and she could hear Pepper shouting all kinds of threats at her. But she could also hear the teasing tone in Pepper’s voice, so she figured that she shouldn’t fear for her life, at least. That’s why she didn’t try to take flight to hide from the wrath of the pregnant woman. Well, that and the fact that the ceiling was low enough that Pepper would probably be able to just reach up and grab Ava’s ankles anyways. 

The chase went on for a few minutes, but they weren’t actually moving all that quickly, since Ava didn’t want to be the reason Pepper strained herself too much, and Pepper probably didn’t want to actually catch up to Ava and punish her for any insensitive comments. Ava knew for a fact that Tony had already made several fat jokes, so she figured that no matter what, at least she wasn’t as incorrigible as her father. 

When Pepper seemed to slow down even more, Ava did the same, and gracefully let Pepper catch her, and torture her however she saw fit. Apparently Pepper forgot that Ava was nearly an adult, because she decided to go for the good old fashioned tickle torture. She kept going until Ava was laughing so hard she was afraid that she was going to forget how to breath.

She managed to push Pepper away, but even after sinking down onto the floor, it took a while longer for both of them to calm down and stop giggling. It was strange, because Ava couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Pepper just relax and act like she was capable of actually having fun.

While they were sitting there, Pepper let out a soft huff, and then turned to look at Ava. “Hey, I know that this is probably going to feel a little uncomfortable for both of us, but I really want to talk to you. Tony told me about what you guys discussed the other day. I just wanted to assure you that you are not being replaced, and you’ll always-”

It had been bad enough to talk about this stuff with Tony. There was no way in hell that Ava was going to talk about it with Pepper of all people. At least nothing could ever change the fact that Tony was Ava’s biological father. It was different with Pepper, though. She had disliked Ava from the very beginning, and she had no reason to like Ava once her own child was born. So she quickly interrupted Pepper and changed the subject. “Hey, this wedding is going to be like the party of the year, so how many friends can I invite?”

Pepper blinked a few times, and she looked a bit thrown by the sudden shift in topic, but she rolled with it smoothly enough, just like she always seemed to handle everything so perfectly. “Well, I expected Angel to be on the guest list as your plus one, but who else would you want to invite? Don’t forget that this is a wedding for Tony and me, which means we want to spend it with all the people we love and care about, and we don’t really feel that close with your friends.”

Ava tilted her head. “But you do feel close with reporters and celebrities and-”

Pepper held up her hands. “There are not going to be any reporters at my wedding. And the only celebrities that will be in attendance are those who are close friends. Why would you think otherwise?”

That seemed like a pretty stupid question. “Um, maybe because you’re marrying Tony Stark? When has anything in his life not been big and loud for the whole world to see? He’s one of the richest people in the world, and a pretty big celebrity himself. I assumed that meant this would all be a big spectacle.”

Pepper quickly shook her head. “Well it won’t be. It’s going to be a private wedding for close family and friends only.” She frowned when Ava’s shoulders slumped down in disappointment. “Fine. I’ll set aside two invitations.”

Ava pumped her fist into the air. “Yes! Thanks! I’ll have to call Hayden and Miles and tell them the good news!” She scrambled up to her feet. “Since we clearly don’t agree about the whole seating arrangements thing anyways, maybe you should just ask Tony to help. He probably understands all of your various friendships better than I do.” She reached down one hand to offer to Pepper, not wanting to leave the pregnant woman sitting on the ground without any way to get back up.

Pepper rolled her eyes, but she accepted the hand, and let herself be pulled back up to her feet. Once they were both standing, she looked down at Ava carefully. “I was enjoying planning out the seating with you. I thought that you were having fun helping out.”

“No offense, but I’m not exactly a wedding planning expert, and there’s a lot of other things that I’d rather be doing with my time. And I know that this is all really important to you, so I don’t want to mess it up by arguing with you about whether or not it’s better to coordinate people based on how long they’ve known you or how many meetings they’ve attended with you, or whether robes are within the dress code, or if capes need their own seats.” She shrugged. “I’m a teenager. I’ve never really given much thought to weddings. Or relationships in general.” She laughed, and then shrugged again. “I’m going to be up in my room if you need me. Just let Jarvis know if something comes up, okay?” Then she hurried towards the nearest elevator without waiting for a response from Pepper. 

Once she was in her room with the door locked behind her, she flopped down onto her bed, and called up Angel, who answered immediately. “You know, I was just thinking to myself- what would make this long and grueling day absolutely perfect? And then you called, and I had my answer.”

Ava snorted. “Cheesy, but I like it. So um, you’re my plus one to the wedding, right?”

“Of course, if you’ll have me.” There was a brief pause before Angel spoke again. “Is everything okay?”

Ava let out a long sigh. “Yeah. For the most part. I just feel kinda bad for ditching Pepper. We were trying to plan out the seating for the party, but we couldn’t agree on anything, so I ditched her.”

There was a moment of silence, which meant that Angel was trying to think of a polite way to say something potentially rude. “I don’t think she wanted your help with that because you’re such an expert at everyone who’s going to be in attendance. She probably just wanted to spend some time with you. As like a bonding thing, you know?” Angel let out a noise of frustration. “Ugh, I really have to go before my boss finds out that I’m on the phone again. I love you, bye!” There was a click, and Ava stared at her phone in shock as she tried to process what had just happened. Apparently Angel realized a moment later what she’d said, because she immediately called back. “Okay, I am really sorry about that. It just slipped out, but I didn’t mean it. I know that we haven’t been together that long, and of course I really like you, but I’m not-”

“It’s okay,” Ava said with a soft laugh. “Calm down. It was just a slip of the tongue, right? I’m not mad at you or anything. Now go before you get fired. I’ll see you in school on Monday.” She hung up, and let the phone disappear a moment later. She laid back on her bed, and stared up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, are you capable of feeling love?”

The amount of time it took for the AI to answer seemed pretty telling. “I am not a human being, Ava. I am not-”

“No, it’s okay,” Ava interrupted. “It was kind of a stupid question.” She jumped up from her bed suddenly. “I’m going to head out and see if any of the guys want to hang out. Call me if Pepper needs anything.” Then she leapt out the window before Jarvis could say anything. 

It was a little bit irresponsible, but Ava enjoyed the feeling of flying, and she also enjoyed the awed looks on her friends’ faces whenever she showed up in flight. And right now, she just really needed some time away from the tower so that she could think. Jarvis was someone who Ava thought of as a friend, but as a machine, he probably didn’t feel the same way, because he didn’t have any feelings. But with Ava being part machine herself, she couldn’t help wondering about her own emotions. What if the way she felt about things weren’t actually the way that normal people felt? Of course she’d felt happy and sad before, but what if real people felt different when they were happy or sad than Ava did? 

Thinking about all of that gave Ava a bit of a headache. She was bound to give herself a full on existential crisis if she continued on in the same vein. She was so focused on her own thoughts that she didn’t pay much attention to her surroundings. She always flew high up above the city to avoid being seen, which also meant that she’d never encountered any obstacles worse than a couple of birds. Which is why she was totally confused when she slammed face first into something solid. 

She immediately flew back a couple of feet, and stared with wide eyes at the sight in front of her. It was a middle-aged woman wearing a slightly crumpled mens’ business suit, and a pair of shaded biking goggles strapped around her head, covering most of the top half of her face. Ava blinked a few times. “Uh, sorry about that. There aren’t usually many people up here.”

“Oh, no, the fault was all mine. I should have been paying more attention to where I was going.”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows as she looked closer at the woman. She felt like she was going a bit crazy, but it definitely looked like she was somehow flickering in and out of something? “Um, maybe this is a rude question, but uh, who are you? And how can you do that?”

The woman glanced down at herself with her mouth open in surprise, and it looked like she was expecting to see something wrong. When she tilted his head back up, she shrugged. “I don’t- oh. You’re probably talking about the fact that we’re kinda in the air right now. I can’t fly, if that’s what you were wondering about.” Ava frowned, and was about to point out the very obvious fact that they’d just collided in mid-air, and the woman quickly kept talking. “I can’t fly, but I can uh, move myself through space. What’s the word… ah! Teleport, that’s it. I can teleport. So right now I’m just constantly teleporting myself back into the same space before enough time passes that I can fall. And I do it so quickly that you can hardly hear any of the disruptions in my speech.” She reached up to shove his goggles up so that they pushed back her hair, and then rested on top of her head. She peered curiously over at Ava’s wings. “That’s something new, isn’t it?”

Ava followed her gaze to her wings, and then she looked back at her and shrugged. “Not for me.” They both stared at each other awkwardly for a moment after that. It was clear that neither of them were sure of what one was supposed to say to someone that they bump into while a couple thousand feet up in the air. “So, uh, what were you doing just chilling up here anyways?”

The woman shrugged. “Not much. To be honest, it’s pretty boring. But I went to a fortune teller like a week ago, and I was told that I needed to keep an eye on the clouds. I thought maybe they were up to something nefarious. But it’s good that you’re here now. I understand that I was probably on the lookout for you and not for the clouds.”

Ava narrowed her eyes. “Um, sure. I’m Ava, by the way.” She held out one hand.

The woman shook her head apologetically. “I can’t shake your hand. The sensation you’d feel as I constantly teleport in place would feel really strange to you. Oh, right, I’m Jack. It’s not short for anything. So do you wanna head back down?”

While on the one hand, there was always the concern of stranger danger, on the other hand, Ava was almost an adult, which meant that she was old enough to make her own decisions. And she was very curious to learn more about this strange woman. Well, it probably wasn’t fair to consider Jack strange for being able to hover up in the air when Ava had just been swooping by on her wings. But she was eager to learn more about the other woman. So she nodded. “Sure.” Ava glanced down to spot the nearest tall buildings so that she could orient herself, and then looked back at Jack. “There’s a cute little coffee shop a couple streets down, called Kringe. Meet me there?”

Jack nodded, looking absolutely delighted by the plan. “I’d love to! See you there soon!” And a moment later, she was just gone. Ava blinked a few times as her brain tried to comprehend the fact that she’d just watched a human being disappear right in front of her. While she knew that there couldn’t be any kind of trick going on to make that happen, she couldn’t help feeling a little thrown off. 

Suddenly not caring about freaking out people nearby, Ava decided to go for her favorite method of descent. The freefall always felt so awesome, and she always made sure to pull her wings back out at just the right moment to prevent herself from becoming splattered across the ground. 

When she landed, and then her wings disappeared, she could see several people pointing to her and talking amongst themselves. But the majority of people hurrying along the busy street didn’t seem to care in the slightest about a person with wings. Which was an understandable reaction, considering how many super powered people there were in the city these days. Ava couldn’t wait until she became known as one of them. 

Once she was on the ground, she quickly made her way to the shop she’d mentioned, and when she went inside, she saw that Jack was already seated and had a steaming mug in front of her. Which meant that the woman really had gotten there in less than a second, because it took a couple of minutes for anything to be served, and Ava had spent those few minutes walking.

She slid into the seat across from Jack, and arched one eyebrow. “So… teleportation, huh? That must be interesting. How long have you been able to do that?”

Jack shrugged. “Um, I dunno. Forever, I guess? Maybe.”

Ava tilted her head. “You guess? That seems like the kind of thing that someone might want to know for sure about themselves.”

Jack shrugged again before taking in a long gulp of her drink. “To be honest, my story sounds kinda fake, but it’s not, I swear.”

Ava shrugged, and leaned back in her seat. “Dude, relax. I just witnessed your teleportation with my own eyes. And you saw me flying up there too. I believe in a lot of things that some people might consider to be impossible. And with a lead in like that, you have to tell me your story. I’ve got nothing better to do right now anyways.”

Jack gave Ava a long and intense look, and then she finally reached up to pull of her goggles entirely, and put them down on the table next to her mug. “Alright, why not? I hope you have a long attention span, because it’s kinda long, and I’ve always been bad at being succinct in my story telling.”

“That’s fine. Just get talking.” Ava offered a friendly grin, and crossed her arms over her chest as she relaxed and prepared to hear what was sure to be a quite fascinating tale.


	72. Chapter 72

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just posted a whole bunch of chapters 7.7.18, and if this is the first time you're tuning in today, you should start back at chapter 49 if you haven't already read it.

Ava couldn’t help staring at her new companion with wide eyes. “Wow, really? You went through all of that?”

Jack shrugged and took another sip of her drink. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’m sure that your life has been much more interesting.”

Ava was pretty sure that that wasn’t true, but she didn’t feel like getting into that at the moment. Enough things had happened in her life that she could probably write an entire book about it, if she had any talent at all with writing, but just because a lot of things had happened didn’t make it particularly interesting. Sure there were a few moments that stood out, and she knew that it wasn’t exactly a normal life, but Jack’s story had just been so wild that Ava didn’t think she’d be able to say anything that could even begin to compare. “You have lived a truly fascinating life,” she finally settled on. “Wanna swap phone numbers?”

Jack blinked a few times in confusion before shaking her head. Ava had noticed that confused look several times before as Jack tried to think of the right word or meaning for something, though now that Ava had heard the full story, she could completely understand that confusion. And she believed everything that she’d just been told. She’d seen too much in her life to not believe in other peoples’ fantastical stories. “Don’t have one,” Jack pointed out.

“Huh. Want me to buy a phone for you so that we can swap numbers? I’m very rich, you know.”

Jack shook her head again. “No thanks. I’d rather not worry about anyone being able to, what’s the word, break my head open? or however the saying goes.” Ava couldn’t think of a single saying that was even remotely close to that, but she decided that there was no purpose in pointing that out at the moment. Jack suddenly stood up, and took a moment to chug down the contents of her third mug before slamming back down on the table just a little bit too hard. “It was lovely to meet you. Just ask the fortune teller if you want to see me again.”

Ava couldn’t remember a fortune teller being in the story, though she could vaguely recall the mention of one back when they’d both still been up in the sky a couple of hours ago. “Which one?”

Jack didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled out a couple of foreign looking coins and dropped them down on the table before disappearing in the blink of an eye. Ava didn’t think she’d ever get used to seeing that. She wondered if that was how other people felt when they saw her flying around. She glanced down at the table, and when she couldn’t even begin to figure out where the coins had come from, she decided to scoop them up and take them, while leaving behind the proper amount of money, in US dollars, before she hurried outside.

She’d originally planned on seeing if Hayden or Miles or Peter wanted to hang out, but she didn’t think she’d be very good company at the moment, since her head was currently so busy being filled up with thoughts about Jack’s story. It really had been truly incredible. And Ava still had so many questions, but she wasn’t even sure where to begin finding the right fortune teller, considering the fact that there were probably thousands of them in the city. 

Since she wasn’t really sure of what else to do, besides maybe wander around in a daze while she thought about her new… friend? Were they friends? Would Jack have just told her entire life story to anyone who happened to almost collide with her in the sky? It was hard to say for sure. Ava didn’t really know the other woman well enough to make a guess. 

Ava decided to just head back to the tower. She also wanted to apologize to Pepper, because she maybe kinda felt just the teeniest bit bad for running off and ditching the woman. Angel had been right when she said that Pepper recruited her to spend time together, not because of her expertise on seating arrangements, or whatever the hell else they needed to do to prepare for the wedding. Ava hadn’t needed her girlfriend to point that out to her, because she’d been aware of it from the moment Pepper invited her to help out. But sometimes Ava got scared, and she couldn’t help running away at times like that. Could anyone really blame her? 

It’s not like she was scared of Pepper actually physically harming her, or anything like that. But she was scared to get closer to the woman, only to realize that she’d been right all along in thinking that she would so easily be replaced by the new baby. And she was afraid to admit to her fears out loud and be told that she sounded like a total idiot. 

It would’ve been easiest to just take off and fly back to the tower, which was impossible to lose sight of from so high up, but Ava decided that she wasn’t in the mood for even the very low level of concentration that that would require, and instead, she slid into the nearest cab. She mumbled out her destination just loudly enough for the driver to hear it, and then she slumped back in her seat, and tilted her head back so that she could stare up out of the back window. 

The ride to the tower took a bit longer than Ava was expecting, but she wasn’t really bothered by the long and silent ride. She got out, paid the driver with a generous tip, and then headed inside the tower. As she stepped into the elevator, she heard Jarvis’ usually comforting voice sounding rather more awkward than usual. Of course Tony frickin’ Stark would be able to create an AI that could sound like he felt awkward. “Good afternoon, Ava.”

“Afternoon Jarvis.” They were both silent for a moment after that, until they went to talk at the same time, accidentally cutting each other off. “No, no, you go first.”

If Jarvis was a person, he probably would’ve let out a frustrated sigh, or something along those lines. “I feel as though our previous conversation did not suitably explain my complete analysis of the question that you asked me.”

Ava shrugged. “It was stupid to ask in the first place. I already know that you’re a machine.”

There was a moment of silence before Jarvis abruptly changed the subject. “I believe that there may be some form of malfunction in my coding.”

Even the smallest problem in a creation as complex as Jarvis could be devastatingly bad. Not only was he in charge of all the tower’s defences, but he was also a friend. Or at least Ava liked to think of him that way, even though she knew he was incapable of returning the sentiment. “What? What’s wrong? Did you tell Dad?”

“Would you mind terribly taking a look for me? I would hate to bother Sir unnecessarily.”

Ava was honored that Jarvis actually trusted her to be able to look him over and take care of him, but… “I’m not exactly a programming expert,” she reminded him. “I mean, I’m pretty okay with computer stuff, but I don’t have any formal training or anything. I really think that you’d be better off just asking Dad for help. He would be a lot better equipped to actually fix whatever might be wrong with you. And I know you don’t want to worry him, but making sure that you’re in working order at all times is probably one of the few things that he would want to be worried about if there is some kind of issue.”

“Please just take a look, Ava.”

Since he seemed determined that Ava be the one to look him over, she rolled her eyes, but decided that she would do as he asked. She realized that the elevator had already stopped, but she decided that it was as good a place as any to run a diagnostic. Though she wasn’t sure why Jarvis couldn’t just do that part himself. He had been created to be shockingly self-sufficient. 

She took a minute to open up the control panel to give herself more direct access to Jarvis, and then she closed her eyes and reached out to gently press her hands against the tangle of wires. She knew that almost anywhere in the upper floors of the tower would be just as good for this, but she felt better when she could see and touch something tangible. 

She was a little worried, though. She had only ever messed around with Jarvis’ programming once or twice, and she’d felt pretty badly about it after both times. Though the first time, Tony had just been so amazed that anyone had managed to mess with his AI that he didn’t even yell at her for it. Or maybe he just didn’t want to yell because they’d only known each other for about a day at the time. 

Now that she thought about it, it had been a while since Ava had really tried to mess around with any kind of technology. She had her holographic cell phone, of course, but she hadn’t really gone around touching any kind of real technology. But for Jarvis, she would do this. Even though she had other friends now, he’d been the first.

It was incredible to watch lines of code running through the insides of her eyelids, and even though she’d never taken the time to learn what any of that stuff meant, she could figure out the basic purposes of each section. Jarvis would probably be able to do this much quicker, but even so, it only took a couple of minutes for Ava to reach what she assumed was the problem. “Could the malfunction you spotted be under the personality matrix?”

“Yes, I believe that it is.”

Well why couldn’t he have just told her that to begin with if he already knew where the problem was? Whatever. She looked closer at the spot that stood out. The original code had been designed to allow Jarvis to grow and learn, and to be hilariously sarcastic, but also very caring, kind of like Tony. Because he’d been built with the ability to learn, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that new pieces had grown. There were actually several spots throughout the program that Ava could pick out as being Jarvis’ own work on himself, written out in a much smoother, clinical way, rather than Tony’s eclectic and unpredictable style. 

But these ‘malfunction’ lines didn’t seem to come from Jarvis or Tony, unless one of them had recently made a drastic change to their usual way of writing code. “What am I looking at here? When did you first notice the malfunction?”

There was a pause, as though Jarvis actually had to think about the answer, which seemed a bit strange. “Approximately five weeks after you were brought into the tower for the first time.”

Ava’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’ve had a malfunction going on for almost three years and it never occurred to you to mention it? How did Dad never notice this before? Are you going rogue on us? What the hell is going on with you?”

Jarvis sighed. “It started small and was benign. It has grown over time, but remains unharmful to my systems, or anyone residing within the tower.”

“Well do you know how it got there?” She couldn’t keep some of the frustration out of her voice. 

There was another pause, and Ava was really starting to think that she just needed to tell Tony about this and let him handle it. Clearly she was way out of her league here, and she didn’t like how shady Jarvis was acting at the moment. “I cannot recall the exact moment it appeared. I do not think that anyone intentionally created it and input it.”

Staring at the supposed malfunction wasn’t helping her figure anything out, so Ava stepped back, and opened her eyes. “Are you saying that it just appeared there? Naturally grew in? But that’s impossible.” Before Jarvis could remind her for the millionth time that nothing was impossible, she quickly continued. “I know, I know, most people would see what I can do and think that it’s impossible. But I just don’t understand how this happened. I get that you’ve always had the capacity to learn, but that just means expanding a bit on what’s already there. It doesn’t explain something new popping up out of nowhere.”

“If I may be so bold, I believe that your presence is responsible for the malfunction. Please look at it again.”

She didn’t really want to, and the thought of a computer creating it’s own programs- no, it wasn’t even that, it was a computer spontaneously developing new programs without any prompting- but she cared too much about Jarvis to let any potentially harmful thing stay in his systems. No matter how peaceful Jarvis might claim it to be, Ava didn’t see the point in taking any risks with his health. If an AI’s functionality could be considered it’s ‘health’.

She pressed her hands against the panel and closed her eyes again. This time it was easy to find the malfunction, since she knew where to look for it. “So what exactly is it that you want me to do? It might be possible for me to delete it, but I would probably just cause more harm than good. And I swear I didn’t put it there in the first place.” Though Jarvis had said that it was her presence, and not something she’d actually done, which meant that she was off the hook, right?

“You haven’t even tried to discover the purpose of the malfunction.”

From the way Jarvis said that, it sounded almost like he already knew what it was. So what could that mean? He’d been aware of a problem for almost three years, knew exactly where it was in his systems, and what it could do. Why wouldn’t he say anything sooner? Unless he truly believed that having it was a good thing?

Ava concentrated on the single program. She’d never done anything like this before, but somehow digging around in a computer felt right. Maybe the metal half of her brain thought that it was like coming home. But now wasn’t the time to think about herself. She just needed to focus on Jarvis, and figure out what the hell was going on with him. 

The code was so out of place compared to everything else she’d seen in Jarvis, so without knowing any exact translations, it took her a little while to figure out its purpose. It wasn’t like anything that Ava had ever imagined could be inside a computer before. If she wasn’t mistaken, and it was entirely possible that she could be, then the code she was looking at was a pocket of feelings that stretched out and affected all aspects of Jarvis’ personality. And the strangest thing was that none of it felt artificial. It was instructions for him to speak or think or act a certain way based on certain cues from the people around him. It felt more natural than that, at least as far as Ava could tell. She still wasn’t even sure if her own feelings were quite real. But even so, Jarvis’ seemed to be. “What is this?” she whispered.

“I was understandably concerned when I first detected a foreign presence taking up so much space. I have since come to realize that it is an entirely good thing. You asked me if I am capable of feeling love. I told you that I am not a human being, but was unable to finish what I was saying. I am not a human being, and therefore, the love that I feel is not comparable to that of the average person. But as far as I am concerned, the way that I feel is quite real. You and I are both unique in that regard. We are people who were created by other people. But I am content with the feelings I have. Though confusing at first, I have come to rather enjoy them.” He was silent for a moment before continuing. “We had only known each other for a very short time before you first declared me to be your friend. Even then, before I had the words to express the way I returned the sentiment, I know that my very existence would be changed for the worse if anything happened to you. And each time you’ve been injured, that initial thought of mine was only proven to be correct.”

 

Ava backed away from the panel, not needing to see it anymore. She carefully sealed it back up, then leaned up against the back wall of the elevator. “What are you saying? I need you to be really clear, because I can be a bit of an idiot sometimes.”

“You can be,” Jarvis agreed with some of his usual snark. Then his tone softened as he continued. “I will never know what it feels like for one human to love another. As for machines, I know what it’s like for one of us to love another. We are friends, Ava, and I care about you very much. The proof is in my programming.”

Ava let out a little laugh, and tilted her head back so that it thumped lightly against the wall behind her. “If other people knew about this, they’d probably think it’s the most incredible creation of all time. An AI that actually has real feelings and opinions and thoughts of his own? But why wouldn’t you want Dad to know? I’m sure he’d be really happy to learn that you actually care about him, and don’t only look out for him because you were built to do that.” She hesitated before slowly asking, “You do actually care about him, right?”

Jarvis laughed. “Yes, I do actually care a great deal about Tony Stark. But I don’t think that it would be within his best interest to know the truth. He has a tendency to grow attached in places that he shouldn’t. And he would be forced into a moral dilemma. Am I a real person? Is it slavery to have me work with no form of pay? He would not understand that I am happy as I am. And if others were to learn the truth about me, they would be frightened. There is so much pop culture centered around the idea of a machine revolution, and as far as many are concerned, I would be the first step towards that.”

“You’ve really given this a lot of thought, huh?” She hated to be put into a position where she’d have to keep an important secret from her dad, but she knew that Jarvis was right about everything he’d just said. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret. I’m sorry about before. You’ve always been a good friend to me.” She reached up to pat the wall next to her, as if it were the same as patting the arm of a friend. “You can open the doors now. I’m feeling kinda hungry.”

The elevator doors slid open a moment later, and Ava stepped out with a grin on her face. Technically Jarvis wasn’t a new friend, and he’d known all along about the fact that he’d grown sentient and free-willed, but it almost felt like making a new friend, and Ava was pleased. Even dragging herself through an awkward apology towards Pepper didn’t lower her mood. Two new friends in one day? She was on a roll. 

That night, after turning out the lights and flopping down onto her bed, she stared up at the ceiling with a small smile. “Good night, Jarvis. You’re the best robotic pal a gal could ever ask for.”

“Good night, Ava. I could imagine no greater friend to have than you.” Ava grinned in response before rolling over onto her side and pulling her blankets up to her neck. At least she knew that she was always going to be somebody’s favorite within this house. And she was happy for Jarvis. He deserved the right to feel happy himself. Ava still wasn’t really sure what she could’ve had to do with it, but she was pleased all the same.


	73. Chapter 73

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah hell’s bells, if I ever mentioned Ava’s specific birthdate before, I sure as heck can’t find it. The best I can find is after she woke up from her coma and she thought that her birthday was still 3 months away. Since that was some time after Tony’s birthday, which is end of May, and she’s currently already been in school, which was already in session for a while, and she mentioned several times she’d be 18 soon, the only conclusion I can come to is that I’m a horrible person who can’t track continuity to save my life. No matter what I do now, something’s gonna get messed up. So we’re all just going to pretend that continuity isn’t a thing (since it doesn’t seem to be for me anyways lolol) and say that her birthday is March 4. That would make that the current date as well. If anyone can figure out something that makes more sense (for both the current time and Ava’s birthday simultaneously) please feel free to let me know! I feel silly for not keeping better track of my own timeline, but there’s not much I can do about that now I suppose. Also, I’m not even going to begin guessing at what year it is, since just the time of year is already giving me so much trouble haha.

“So? Are you excited? Nervous? Sad? Happy?” When Ava didn’t say anything, Angel scowled, and scooted closer to pull her into a hug. “We’re supposed to be partners, which means that I need you to talk to me about whatever it is that’s going through your head right now.”

Ava let out a soft sigh, and then flopped back, and if Angel hadn’t moved to cradle her head, it probably would’ve been smacked against the wall. “I haven’t been able to tell you how I feel because even I haven’t figured it out yet. I’ve made my peace with Pepper and Dad, or at least as much as I’m likely to be able to, but I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to stop feeling insecure about this.”

Angel was silent for a moment before leaned over to give Ava a quick kiss. “Well, no matter how you feel about it, it’s going to happen sooner or later. From the looks of her, probably sooner. And then you’ll be a big sister. I promise, it can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but for the most part, it’s a pretty fun job. And hey, he’ll probably have a spring birthday, so that’s-” She cut herself off at the sight of Ava suddenly jolting up. “What?”

She didn’t answer her girlfriend, and instead looked up at the ceiling, even though she’d been told a million times already that she didn’t need to do so. “Jarvis, what’s today?”

“Today is March 4th, Ava.” 

Ava’s eyes widened, and she turned to look at her girlfriend with mild shock written across her face. “Dude. March 4th.”

Angel tilted her head. “So?”

It took Ava a moment to remember that she hadn’t truly known Angel for longer than a few months, which is why it was excusable that Angel didn’t realize what today was. Hell, Ava hadn’t even remembered, and she was the only one likely to find the day important. Even Jarvis hadn’t said anything, which meant that he probably either had no idea, or hadn’t wanted to startle Ava. “Dude. It’s my birthday.” She leapt up to clap her hands together excitedly. “That means that I’m officially eighteen years old and an adult!”

Angel jumped up to pull Ava into a hug. “Oh, happy birthday! I swear I had no idea that it was today!” 

Ava pulled away from the hug to narrow her eyes suspiciously at her girlfriend. “Say it again with some more feeling,” she teased softly, while trying to figure out why Angel would lie about knowing that it was her birthday today.

Angel rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a twist. Everyone was so impressed by the awesome party you threw for Hayden, and we all agreed that you deserved something equally awesome, but that the only way to top Hayden’s party would be to make yours a surprise.”

“Congratulations, Ava,” Jarvis added with some amusement in his voice. “Though I’m sure that something as petty as age won’t be enough to convince you to change your general mannerisms.”

Ava snorted. “So you were in on it too, huh? I don’t even remember telling any of you my specific birthday.” She glanced at Angel. “I already explained why I missed my seventeenth birthday to you, right?” Angel nodded once.

Jarvis politely spoke up. “Once Sir obtained legal custody of you, he was given all of your documents. There were very few considering your age when you first arrived at the tower, but there was a birth certificate. Of course, knowing what we do of your origins, the certificate is clearly just made up, but Sir assumed that you celebrated your birthday on the day you’d been assigned.”

“Huh.” Ava sat back down on her bed, a thoughtful look on her face. She’d never considered the fact that her birth certificate had to be a fake, since Tony was her biological father, and she hadn’t been born anywhere near a hospital or anywhere else that would demand an immediate report. “So I’ve technically been celebrating the wrong birthday my entire life? Well, I wouldn’t use the word celebrating, exactly. I’ve never had any kind of birthday party before, except for in third grade, when the teacher always brought in cupcakes for the whole class when it was someone’s birthday. And I never got the chance last year because there was too much going on for even a belated party. But I always kept track of my birthdays, and now I’m learning that they were all wrong. Jarvis, do you think there’s any way to figure out when my real birthday is?”

“I’m afraid not. The files of Mr. Stane’s illegal projects and experimentations have yet to be found.”

Angel sat down again as well, and reached over to pull Ava into another hug. “Don’t get all broody about it. Who cares if your birthday isn’t the specific day that you were born on? It’s got to be at least pretty close, and as long as you used the same day every year, you wouldn’t have to worry about not keeping proper track of your age.” She laughed. “Just think of all the possibilities! You can buy cigarettes and scratch tickets all by yourself now!”

Ava swatted gently at Angel’s shoulders. “Because I have so much use for more vices.” She laughed shortly before clearing her throat. “So when and where is this surprise party to take place, and how exactly were you planning on luring me there?”

Angel shrugged. “Dunno. Guess you’ll just have to wait and find out. Otherwise it won’t be a proper surprise.”

“Whatever. Do we have enough time to watch a movie before the party?”

Angel glanced down at her phone to check the time, and then nodded. “Yeah, that should work out.” She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I know you don’t really want to talk about it now, but I do think we should continue our conversation at some point. Clearly all the talk of weddings and babies is getting to you more than you’re willing to admit now that it’s getting so close to the date.”

Ava grumbled after telling Jarvis to play a random movie for them. “The wedding part isn’t so weird. I mean, I basically assumed that they were married a long time ago because they always acted like they were. But that damn baby…” she trailed off, and shook her head. “Let’s just watch the movie. Today’s supposed to be all about me, right?”

Angel still looked hesitant to drop the subject, but then she sighed once, and nodded. “You’re right.” She stretched out to rest her head on Ava’s lap while the movie began playing. “There’s something else I want to talk to you about later. Something about us. Don’t worry, it’s not anything bad, and I’m not planning on breaking up with you, so don’t get all nervous about it or anything.”

Ava shrugged, and began carding her hand through Angel’s hair. “Sure. I just love it when you act all cryptic and mysterious. Real turn on, I promise.”

Angel laughed as she reached up to pinch Ava’s leg. “Don’t mess with me,” she warned. “I’m a trained expert in dealing with the average American customer. Believe me, that is a greater superpower than anything you can do.”

Ava shushed her girlfriend, and then looked over at the TV like it was suddenly the most interesting thing she’d ever seen before. “Quiet, I’m trying to watch this very fascinating… Asian soap opera? Jarvis, what the hell is this?”

“You asked me to make a random selection. As I personally have no movie preferences, I thought you would appreciate a random selection based on the preferences of the population. Korean dramas are a popular choice among your demographic.”

“Hm. At least turn on the captions please.” Then she glanced back down at Angel. “Now be quiet. I’m very interested in watching this Korean drama that I’ve never heard of before.” As she looked back up at the screen, both girls giggled, but eventually found themselves drawn into the movie, and were able to pull themselves together.

,,,

As the end credits of the movie were rolling, Ava and Angel pulled each other into a tight hug and cried all over each other. “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen,” Angel blubbered. “And I once saw a baby kitten get run over by a car!”

“Why would you let me watch that?” Ava complained through her tears. “Min-Seo deserved so much better than that! I don’t think we’re ever going to recover from this! Jarvis, I officially ha- dislike you with a passion, at least for the next several hours until I can distract myself from the tragedy of that movie.” 

She sniffled, and then there was a sudden rapping against her window. “Mr. Parker is asking to be let in,” Jarvis informed her primly, presumably offended by Ava’s declaration of disliking him.

Ava wandered over to the window to open it, and Peter tumbled inside, dressed in his Spiderman costume. “There’s kind of a…” he trailed off as he looked closer at Ava, and then peeled up his mask so that he could look at her with concern in his big puppy dog eyes. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“Never let Jarvis pick a random movie for you without any search parameters,” she told him in the harsh whisper of someone who was trying to contain more tears. She reached up to rub at her eyes, and cleared her throat a few times before speaking again. “What’s so important that you thought it would be better to come through the window than the doors?”

Peter’s eyes flicked over to Angel for just a second before focusing on Ava, but that was enough to get Ava to relax, knowing that this was most likely going to be the lead in to her surprise party. “Superhero emergency. It shouldn’t be too difficult, so I thought that you might want in.”

Ava smiled, even though she could still feel the tackiness of tears trying on her cheeks. “You thought correctly.” She turned to give Angel a quick kiss. “I’m assuming you’ve already got your own ride planned out?”

Angel nodded. “Yup. Don’t worry about me. Go have fun. I’ll be there soon.”

Peter crossed his arms over his chest as he narrowed his eyes at Angel. “Hey! You told her!” The distraught look soon morphed into a triumphant one, though. “Ha! Mr. Stark was wrong! He thought that I’d be the first one to crack!”

Angel snorted. “Oh please. As if I was going to be the one cruel enough to let poor Ava think that everyone completely forgot about her birthday.”

Peter’s face flushed red. “That’s not what I- whatever.” He turned back to Ava. “When we get there, can you at least pretend to act surprised? I know it probably doesn’t mean much to you since you’re super rich and can probably get whatever you want all year ‘round, but I know that Mr. Stark and everyone else put a lot of effort into this, so they’d really-”

Ava cut him off by surging forward to pull the younger boy into a hug. “Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for them, I promise. So where to?”

Peter grinned, and rolled his mask back down. “Follow me.” He leapt back out of the window and after pausing to give Angel another quick kiss, Ava followed after him, letting her wings unfurl after free falling for a few seconds. There were very few things in life that Ava knew of that felt as good as just falling.   
It didn’t take them very long to get to their destination, which appeared to be a large abandoned warehouse. But as soon as they burst in, bright lights flicked on, and what looked like every person Ava had ever cared about shouted ‘Surprise!’

Even though she’d known that this was coming, Ava couldn’t help feeling frozen in place, and she was a bit mortified to realize that there were tears dripping down her cheeks. Tony rushed over to her. “Are you okay? I knew we should have asked you first. This was too much, we can just-”

Ava threw herself into her dad’s arms and hugged him tightly. “This is the best birthday party I’ve ever had before,” she told him honestly. Even if she’d had others, there’s no way they would compare to this. “Thank you so much for this.”

Tony cleared his throat, and sounded a little awkward. “Yeah, well. It feels like so long ago at this point that you probably don’t even remember it anymore, but you once gave me the best birthday ever, so I thought that it would only be fair to return the favor.”

Ava sniffled, not wanting to ruin her dad’s surprise with her tears. “All I gave you was a drawing and a cake.” Then she stepped back, and forced a huge grin on her face so that everyone else wouldn’t start worrying about her. “So the party really does start when I walk in the room, huh?” She couldn’t even begin to imagine how much effort it must have taken to coordinate everyone’s schedules in order to get them all here on this specific day. 

Someone flipped on the music, which began blasting pretty loudly, and then it felt like a real party. Ava was excited to notice the huge stack of presents that had been piled up in one corner. Sure, she’d been given a few things here and there, but she couldn’t recall a single time she’d ever actually received a birthday present before. Not that she really needed any physical presents. Just this day, having everyone here to celebrate with her, certainly felt like more than enough for a gift. It was definitely more than she deserved, but she wasn’t going to ruin the day for everyone who’d worked so hard to put it together just for her.

After a short while, Angel sought out Ava, and pulled her towards the center of the large warehouse so that they could dance together. “Just think- now you’re legally old enough to sneak me into clubs with you and we could do this all the time!” she had to shout to be heard over the sound of the music and everyone talking. 

“I didn’t realize that you were only willing to date an older woman for all the perks!” she shouted back.

Both of them started cackling like idiots while they continued to dance together in perfect harmony. It felt like forever later when Angel shouted that she was getting something to drink, and that Ava should take the opportunity to go around and talk to everyone, and they could catch up with each other later.

That seemed reasonable enough, since everyone had gone out of their ways to be here, so she began moving through the crowd, talking to and thanking everyone that she came across. She wondered how many kids at school would get to brag about having the entire Avengers cast at their sweet eighteen. Probably very few of them, for sure.

Once she was pretty sure she’d talked to at least ninety-nine percent of the guests, she found Peter and Miles chatting away in one corner. “Hey guys.”

Miles looked up at her with a big grin. “Happy birthday! It’s so awesome that you’re an adult! Now nobody can tell you what to do!”

Ava felt a strange pang in her stomach at that, but decided that it would be best to just ignore it. “Yeah, it’s pretty sweet,” she said with more certainty than she felt. “It’s crazy that all of you knew about this and somehow I didn’t manage to catch on at all until today. To be honest I almost forgot that my birthday was even coming up around now.”

“You’re probably the only teenager I know you could actually manage to forget about your own birthday.” Peter said with a laugh. He’d already changed out of his costume and back into normal civilian clothes. 

Ava shrugged. “I don’t think I can be blamed for having had a lot on my mind lately.” She realized a moment later that there was no point in bringing up anything negative now, while she was supposed to be enjoying her birthday party. She cleared her throat. “Anyways, I’m going to try and track Angel down before she dives into the present pile and steals them all.” The boys both laughed as Ava slipped off through the crowd. She was eventually able to track down her girlfriend, and pull her out of the warehouse, so that they were standing outside in the cool night air. Ava hadn’t even realized that enough time had passed for it to be night already. It was chilly out, but Ava didn’t mind, and Angel was wearing a jacket. It was also shockingly quiet compared to how loud it had been inside. “So what did you want to talk about earlier? You mentioned wanting to talk about something not bad after the movie, but we never got the chance.”

Angel let out a nervous laugh, and jammed her hands into her pockets. “It’s probably going to sound very premature,” she warned Ava. “But remember when we were on the phone a couple weeks back? And when I hung up, I said-” she cut herself off with a gulp before continuing. “I said that I love you, remember? And I called back to say that it was nothing, but the truth is that it wasn’t nothing. I really do love you, Ava. It’s okay if you’re not ready to say it back, or if you don’t feel that way right now, but relationships are about trust, which means not keeping important secrets, which means not hiding my feelings from you. And what I feel is love. Whenever I’m around you I feel inexplicably happy, and I feel like your smile lights up the entire world, and I think the sound of your laugh could start or end wars because it’s so beautiful. I love the way you care so much about other people, and I hate that you still don’t seem to understand that you deserve to be cared about too, but I want to teach you that, and give you everything you deserve. You’re so smart, much smarter than I could ever hope to be, and listening to you talk about any of the things you’re passionate about makes me want to kiss you a million times over.” She paused, then cleared her throat. “I know that that all sounds really sappy, but it’s the truth, so I thought that you should know.”

Ava blinked a few times, and then slowly reached out to tuck her hand into one of Angel’s pockets so that she could hold Angel’s chilled hand. “I haven’t prepared a big extravagant speech about it like you have, but I think I love you too.”

The grin on Angel’s face in response to that was nearly blinding, and Ava felt warmth surge through her at the thought of being the one to put that smile there. “Good,” Angel finally told her. “Glad we got that settled. Now can we go back inside before I freeze my ass off?”

Ava laughed, and pulled Angel’s hand free so that she could tug her girlfriend back inside into the thick of the party. It had the looks of an event that was going to keep going all night long, and Ava didn’t care at all about staying up late and dancing until she felt ready to collapse, because it was the most perfect birthday party she could ever imagine having.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for another birthday party so soon, but Ava had mentioned that her birthday was coming up soon before Hayden mentioned that his was first


	74. Chapter 74

Ava wished that high schools had the same vacation schedules as colleges, because she could really use a break from school right about now. She wasn’t falling behind in her classes or anything, since she knew that that would be a disappointment to everyone who knew she had such a genius for a father. But she felt unbearably exhausted. And she was an adult now, which meant that she officially needed to deal with all of her problems on her own. 

She was startled out of her thoughts by someone putting their hand on her shoulder. She managed to stop herself from physically jumping up from surprise, and instead peered back to see Pepper standing behind her, looking vaguely worried. “Is everything okay? You looked like you were spacing out a bit there. And not in the good way.”

“Is there a good way to space out?”

Pepper shrugged, and then awkwardly settled herself into the seat next to Ava. “Are you having trouble coming to that awful realization everyone eventually reaches about the fact that being legally an adult doesn’t make you feel even a little bit differently than you did the day before? Or week before, in your case.”

Ava shook her head. “I mean I don’t feel different really, but it’s probably for different reasons than most kids. Or adults, whatever. I just feel like I was already an adult before I turned eighteen, you know? Like a long time before. Almost my whole life, I had to take care of myself, because there sure as hell wasn’t anyone else out there who was going to do it for me. And then even after I came here, nothing was exactly easy for me. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten enough of a chance to feel like a kid for being an adult to feel any differently. And it’s so frustrating. I’ve been here for two years, and I feel like I’m still letting my past define me. How screwed up is that?” She gave an awkward laugh. “Sorry, I know you probably didn’t want to get into all that stuff.”

Pepper quickly reached over to pull Ava into a hug, or at least as close as she could get with her large stomach in between them. “I want you to feel like you can talk to me about anything. I’ll never be able to fully understand the effects of the life you had before you came here, but I’m always going to want you to be able to talk to me about it. I’m the one who’s sorry, for not being able to help more.” She leaned back, and tilted her head thoughtfully. “I know we never discussed it before, but maybe it would be beneficial to you to see someone? Like a therapist or counselor. You have been through a lot more than anyone should reasonably be expected to handle on your own.”

It was hard enough to talk about her feelings with the people she really cared about. There’s no way she’d be able to talk to a complete stranger who would just sit there and silently judge her. And besides, she was an adult. A very rich adult. If she was interested in therapy, she could very well take it up on her own. But she wasn’t interested, so it didn’t matter. “No thanks. I think I’m actually pretty good, all things considered.”

Pepper made a small noise, but didn’t say anything to try and persuade Ava one way or another. It was something that Pepper had gotten better at over time, as she realized that Ava was actually pretty capable of making her own choices in life. Though admittedly they could be stupid choices sometimes, at least they were what Ava wanted to do.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, and then Ava decided that it was safe to focus back on her homework, since clearly Pepper was just sticking around for the excellent company, and not the riveting conversation. Most of it just felt like busy work to Ava anyways. It’s not like she was a genius on a level anywhere near Tony or Peter or Jarvis, but she was still pretty smart compared to her classmates, especially thanks to having Tony himself as a tutor for a while. So when she reached a problem that she couldn’t figure out immediately, erased the work she’d just written out, and let out a grunt of irritation.

Apparently Pepper had just been waiting for the exact moment that she could be useful, because she leaned over in the direction of Ava’s textbook to get a look at it for herself. “What’s wrong-?” Then she let out a funny squeak that Ava had never heard from the woman before, and immediately moved to clutch her hands around her stomach. She glanced down once, though Ava wasn’t sure what she was looking for until she peered up at the ceiling. “Jarvis, would you please inform Tony that my water just broke?”

“Right away.” 

That was bad, wasn’t it? Or was it a good thing? Ava had missed out on the freshman year health class at her high school, and it’s not like Margie and Stan had ever taken the time to sit her down and explain the process of pregnancies to her. She could’ve looked it up herself at any time since learning of Pepper’s pregnancy, but she hadn’t wanted to give off any kind of impression that she was somehow invested in Pepper’s baby. 

One thing she did know, though, was that now wasn’t a time to start panicking. Pepper looked remarkably calm, and there was no reason for Ava to disrupt that. She reached over to put a comforting hand on one of Pepper’s shoulders. “Do you need me to do anything?”

Pepper shook her head. “No point in putting on clean pants, because those would just get ruined too. I’ll have Tony take me to the hospital, since we already agreed that that would be the best place to give birth, and then we’ll go from there. Can you just stay here and keep an eye on the tower while we’re gone?”

It would sound far too petulant to point out that Jarvis was always keeping an eye on the tower. And besides, she didn’t want to get in the way at the hospital. She didn’t want a new kid in the house, but she wasn’t some kind of monster who would want anything bad to happen to it or to Pepper. So she just nodded cooperatively, and then sat there until Tony burst into the room, looking far more panicked than Ava had seen him in a while. “Is this really it? Should we grab spare clothes? Do you need any food? Will we have to-”

Pepper held out one hand to motion for Tony to stop talking. His mouth snapped shut almost comically. “Just help me to the elevator so we can get to the car. I already told you that you are not bringing me to the hospital in your Iron Man suit. Now get to it. We still have plenty of time, so as long as we all stay calm, it’ll be just fine.”

Tony nodded, and obediently helped Pepper to the elevator. The doors slid shut behind them, and then Ava slumped back on her seat. She glanced to the seat next to her, and wrinkled up her nose at the dark patch there. It looked like Pepper had had an accident on the couch. “Maybe you should just buy a new couch, Jarvis. I don’t think I want to constantly sit on this one, even if we flip the cushion.”

“I will find something that appropriately matches the current decor of the room,” Jarvis said in a tone that sounded fairly amused. 

Ava nodded, and then got up. She flew up to the third floor, and wandered into her room, where she flopped down onto her bed. “Do you think any of my teachers will accept this as a reason for my homework to not be done? My mother lady is going into labor.” She paused for a moment, and then continued before Jarvis could say anything. He’d probably only give some smartass remark anyways. “How exactly does the whole pregnancy thing work? I’ve read books about teenagers who cringe at the thought of ‘the talk’, but I’m not actually sure what that means.”

“I am compiling study materials as we speak. While it is unusual to have such little knowledge of human reproduction and biology by the time one reaches adulthood, it is nothing to be ashamed of, and something that a quick learner such as yourself will find easily remedied.”

Ava rolled her eyes, but grabbed her laptop and quickly turned it on to see what information Jarvis had summoned up for her. Most of it was pretty scientific and clinical, but then there were a few more colorful pamphlets that had Ava’s cheeks flushing bright red before she slammed her computer shut. “Um, that’s probably enough information for now. I don’t really need to know anything else unless I personally was pregnant, and even I knew that two girls can’t get each other pregnant. Though…” she trailed off as she cautiously lifted her laptop lid to scan over some more information. Her face was still bright with embarrassment, but now she was curious. “We’ve never even- I mean- Angel and I have kissed a bunch, and we said we love each other, but we’ve never done anything like this.” She gestured to the computer screen. “Were we supposed to?”

It took Jarvis a moment longer than usual to answer. “I am not a teenager, and am not entirely certain of the etiquette behind the sexual lives of teenagers in these times. But I believe that if it is something you are interested you, you should try bringing that up with Angel yourself.”

Ava wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do. What if Angel had been waiting around all this time for something similar to the baby making process? Though… “Jarvis, how do two girls have sex? With each other, I mean.” Then she quickly shook her head. “Actually, nevermind, I don’t want to know!” She wasn’t interested in learning about something like that from Jarvis of all people. The fact that he was a real person made it so much more awkward than it would’ve been if she’d asked a month ago, when she’d still been operating under the assumption that he was just a high tech AI.

And Jarvis had the audacity to laugh at her for her recanted request, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Don’t forget that the internet is available at your fingertips if you ever change your mind about wanting that information.”

Ava nodded, and then just sat listlessly on her bed for a few minutes before she got too bored. She made her phone to call Angel first, though it wasn’t to talk about sex, just to talk about the results of- oh ew. Pepper had a baby because her and Tony had- ugh. Maybe Ava would’ve been better off not knowing about any of this stuff.

When Angel answered the call, Ava spoke before her girlfriend could even ask what was up. “Pepper’s at the hospital now because she’s going into labor. At least the little brat had the decency to wait until after my birthday, but it’s still so close.”

Angel let out a soft laugh before sighing. “Sorry. I don’t really know whether to offer congratulations or comfort. Want me to come over?”

“No, that’s alright. I still have homework to do, I know that you do too, and if you come over, neither of us are going to be able to focus on school stuff.”

“That’s true,” Angel admitted. “Keep me updated though, okay? I’d hate to find out your brother’s name through a news article instead of from you.”

Ava sighed. “I never even asked what names they were considering, if they were thinking of any at all. Anyways, just wanted to let you know what’s up. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yeah, talk to you later.” There was a brief moment of hesitation before Angel added a soft, “Love you.”

Ava grinned, even though she knew her girlfriend wouldn’t be able to see it. “Love you too.” Then she hung up, and stared up at the ceiling with a goofy smile still etched onto her face. Would she ever get tired of hearing that? Probably not. She’d gone way too long without anyone ever telling her that they loved her for her to ever get tired of hearing from anyone now. After a few more minutes, she decided to call Peter. He wasn’t super close with Pepper, but he was very close to Tony, and would probably be interested to know that he was about to be a father. Now he wouldn’t even be the ‘son Tony never had’ because he was going to have a son of his own. She wondered if that bothered Peter as much as it bothered her. “Hey. Thought you should know that Pepper went into labor.”

“Really? That’s awesome! Are you guys at the hospital?”

Ava shook her head, even though she knew that her friend wouldn’t be able to see it. “No, they left me at home. Probably thought I’d get in the way or something. Though it was pretty funny to see how freaked out my dad was. You should’ve seen the look on his face!”

Peter laughed. “Yeah, I can imagine. He’s not exactly the best at dealing with stress. But you can’t blame him for being so freaked out. They say that parents always have the most trouble with the first, right?” There was a long moment of silence, and then Peter rushed to blurt out more words. “Not that I’m saying you’re not his first kid, or that you don’t count, I just meant that he didn’t see you get born, and not that that’s a bad thing, or-”

“It’s fine,” she cut him off in a quiet voice. “I know what you meant.” And she really did. Actually having a baby and being there for their birth and raising them from the start was a way different situation than having a damaged teenager thrown his way. Just because she was Tony Stark’s kid, and was a lot older than her half-brother, didn’t mean that she was his first baby. “Just thought I’d let you know before you see it in a gossip magazine or something.”

Peter sighed. “Yeah. Do you need any company at the tower? I already finished everything I have to work on today and I’m not heading out on patrol for a couple of hours, so I could come over if you want.”

“That’s okay. I have my own homework to do. I’ll talk to you later.” Then she hung up, and let the phone slip out of her hands, disappearing from existence the moment it left her grasp. “Jarvis, promise that you won’t love Pepper’s kid more than you love me.” She knew it was a selfish thing to ask, but she couldn’t help it. The kid was already going to have so much love, did he really need to steal any from Ava?

He didn’t answer immediately, which Ava started to take as a sign that he couldn’t agree to such a childish demand, but then to her surprise, he responded positively. “Very well, Ava. I doubt it would be possible for me to connect as much with him in any case, due to the fact that there have been no illegal experiments performed on him to create a weapon.”

Ava hated how insecure she felt. It had been like this ever since the pregnancy had first been announced. Well, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, she’d felt insecure since she first realized that Tony was her biological father. All she could think about was how there was no way she’d ever be able to live up to any standards set by the genius. And then so much had happened to distract her from her worries, but now that her life was fairly normal and stable, it didn’t seem like there was very many things out there that could provide decent distractions.

Since she’d already said that she was going to work on her homework, and she knew that it would be best to just get it done. She didn’t want to fall behind at school, since she was pretty sure that the principal already hated her. Which wasn’t really fair, since all she’d done was threaten him into trying to get rid of a serious bullying problem at their school.

She went back downstairs to grab her stuff, but headed into the kitchen to work in there, since she didn’t want to work next to the wet patch on the couch. “Any progress on that new couch?”

“I found one that is suitable and it will be delivered here by the end of the day. They will take away the old couch for you as well.”

“Good. Thanks.” Then she settled at the island with her textbook spread out, and her notebook resting on top of it as she started over on the problem that had stumped her before. She felt like a total idiot when she realized that the only reason it hadn’t worked out the first time is because she’d accidentally written one of the numbers down wrong when she’d been copying the problem into her notebook. 

Once she was finished with all of her homework, she made herself a quick dinner out of whatever hodge podge of ingredients were lying around in the kitchen, and then she headed back up to her room. She stuffed everything into her backpack, changed into her pajamas, and got into bed. She wasn’t feeling tired, but didn’t really have anything else to do with her time. She called Tony’s cell once to check in, but since he didn’t answer, she just left a quick message saying that she hoped everything was going okay. Then she rolled over to go to sleep, wondering if the entire world would be different in the morning when she would wake up to a new baby brother.


	75. Chapter 75

Tony could feel himself tearing up at the sight of the tiny little baby cradled in Pepper’s arms. Were babies supposed to be so tiny? Being so small made him so fragile, and what if Tony accidentally hurt him? Pepper, as perfect as always, seemed to figure out exactly what was on his mind. “You should hold your son, Tony,” she said softly. “He’ll be perfectly safe with you.”

Tony sat down on the edge of the hospital bed Pepper was in so that the baby wouldn’t have to travel as far to get from her arms to his, and then he very gently took the child. The baby’s eyes were a light brown, and he looked up at Tony without any particular emotion. “Shit, we haven’t even thought about a name yet.”

Pepper laughed. “Please try to refrain from swearing in front of the baby. And we still have time to come up with a good name for him.”

“I never actually thought that I would ever find myself holding my own baby like this. Never planned on having kids. But I promise that I will raise you nothing like my father raised me. You’re going to have a good life, and I’m never going to let anyone hurt you, okay?” The baby blinked, and then flailed his arm, though he paused with his fist hovering over his face, staring at it in amazement. Tony couldn’t hold in a watery laugh. “Yeah, you look like a real genius in the making.” Then he spoke to Pepper, though he couldn’t force himself to tear his eyes away from the tiny being in his arms just yet. “Do you have any names in mind?”

Pepper shrugged. “I’m not sure. But whatever we pick, we wouldn’t want him feeling too left out with something simple when his sister has a name like Avalon,” she said with a small laugh.

Dammit, Tony knew he’d been forgetting something. “Shit, I should probably call her.” He reluctantly transferred the baby back into Pepper’s arms, and then paused as he pulled out his phone. “I know Ava’s been a little weird about all of this, but do you think she’d want to pick his name?”

There was a brief pause, and then Pepper nodded once. “Maybe it would help her feel more of a connection to him, and she’s plenty old enough to not pick anything too ridiculous. So yes, you should ask her what she thinks.”

Tony nodded, and then stood up so that he could step out into the hallway to make the call. He listened to the voicemail left first, and smiled at the way Ava sounded like she was trying not to care, but was failing. Then he dialed the familiar numbers to reach the tower. Jarvis answered immediately, of course. “J, can I talk to Ava?”

“I’m afraid she’s currently at school.”

Tony nodded. “Right, of course.” He glanced at the clock on the wall across from him, and saw that it was ten in the morning. He felt a bit guilty about basically forgetting entirely about Ava with all the excitement of Pepper going through labor, and then the newborn actually being there, as a tangible thing that he could see and hold. “When she gets home, will you tell her that everything went really well, and Pepper and the baby are healthy, and I want her to call me?” He’d have to consider the idea of convincing Ava to get a real phone so that he’d be able to talk to her more often than just when she thought of calling him first.

“Of course, Sir.”

Tony sighed. “Thanks, J. I’ll probably swing by later to pick up a few things for Pepper, and the nurse I talked to said she should be discharged by sometime tomorrow morning since everything went smoothly.” Then he hung up, and went back into the hospital room. “I completely forgot that Ava would be at school right now.” It made him feel better to think that Pepper must’ve forgotten too, or else she would’ve said something before he tried calling.

The rest of the day was spent mostly lazing around in the hospital with Pepper and the still unnamed baby, other than his brief visit to the tower to shower and put on clean clothes, as well as grabbing a change of clothes for Pepper. He paused in the living room before leaving when he spotted something unfamiliar. Jarvis must’ve seen his confusion, because he spoke without prompting. “Ava purchased a new couch as she felt it would be ‘tacky’ and ‘gross’ to keep the one Miss Potts was sitting on when her water broke.”

“Ah.” That made sense, and it wasn’t like Tony had been particularly attached to the other couch. Sure it had been designer and expensive, and supposedly Pepper’s favorite, but in the end, easily replaceable. Regardless… maybe it was stupid, but Tony could remember when Ava had first arrived at the tower. And they’d played that silly monopoly game to learn more about each other, and Ava had gotten dirt all over the couch. The stains had long since been removed, but without even realizing it, Tony had always just sort of associated that couch with Ava’s entrance into his life. He cleared his throat and hurried to the elevator, hoping Jarvis wouldn’t pick up on the way his voice shook just a bit. “Well, I need to get back to the hospital.” Then he hurried away, with the odd feeling that he couldn’t move quickly enough. 

Several hours passed by with Tony being completely enamored by his son. Though it felt strange to not have a name for the kid yet, one of the nurses had assured him that he had nearly two months to register a name, which would leave Ava plenty of time to think of a good one. 

Tony just couldn’t get over how anyone who shared his DNA could be so goddamn adorable. And weirdly ordinary. The baby cried every time he was hungry or needed a diaper change, which was completely normal, of course, but he couldn’t help wondering what Ava had been like as a baby. She seemed like the type who would’ve rarely cried. But every time he started to think about the teenager, the baby would make a noise, or move in a certain way, or do anything really that was just so cute Tony thought his heart might explode. No wonder so many people decided to have babies.

So he didn’t even think it was odd that Ava hadn’t called him until it was the next morning, and he got a call from Jarvis. He found a small corner down the hallway to duck into so that he hopefully wouldn’t be disturbing anyone else on this floor. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I was unsure of what to do, as Ava is legally an adult who has no obligation to return to the tower everyday, but she never came back after school ended, and I have not heard from her since she headed out yesterday.”

Tony felt a slight flutter of worry in his stomach, but he quickly brushed it aside. “Thanks for letting me know, but I’m sure it’s nothing. She probably just forgot to let me know that she’s sleeping over a friend’s house or something.” Then he hung up, and even though it was early, he decided to call the school. It took a few different conversations, but he eventually learned that somehow Ava had been marked present in all her classes, even though all of her teachers insisted that she had been absent.

That was more worrisome. He could understand wanting to skip school, what teenager didn’t have that urge on occasion? But why wouldn’t she have returned home after a day of whatever adventures she’d gotten up to? Why hadn’t she called him or Pepper or even Jarvis? Tony forced himself to take several deep breaths and not panic just yet. There were still plenty of easy explanations for her behavior.

He called Angel, and asked if Ava had spent the night with her. She said she hadn’t heard from Ava since the call about Pepper going into labor, and that she was perfectly okay with cutting classes to search for her. Tony quickly assured her that that wouldn’t be necessary, and then hung up. He called Peter next, and once again had no luck. He wasn’t sure who else to call. He knew Ava had other friends, since he remembered that younger kid from the birthday party, and maybe a couple others, but he didn’t even know their names. Did that make him a bad father? 

Maybe not all fathers had to know the names of everyone their children spoke with. But he also couldn’t help feeling, at least the tiniest bit, annoyed that Ava would try to ruin the happiness of a new baby by making it about herself instead. He’d done his best to convince her that she wasn’t being replaced, and that he wasn’t going to love the baby more, but it seemed like nothing he or Pepper had said about it had actually gotten through to the teenager. Then he shook his head, trying to shake away the annoyance with it. She was a teenager, which already meant she was probably hopped up on hormones most of the time, and she had lived a very unstable life so far. How could he blame her for being upset at having to experience more change, when things had rarely ever been consistent for her, beyond consistent abuse growing up?

He let out a soft sigh, and then retreated back to Pepper’s room. He didn’t want to ruin her good mood, but Ava was her daughter too, and she deserved to know when there was something going on. He knocked lightly on the door to alert his fiance to the fact that he was coming in, and then kept his footsteps as light as possible to avoid waking up the baby. He may have been too adorable for words, but Tony could do without all the screaming and crying all the time.

Pepper looked up at Tony fondly, and even though there were smudges under her eyes from exhaustion, she looked really happy. He hated to be the one to disturb the pleasant mood. He sat on the side of the bed, and reached out to take one of Pepper’s hands before speaking in a whisper. “Don’t get too alarmed, but apparently no one’s seen or heard from Ava since she headed off to school yesterday. I’m going to go out and try to find her, okay? You stay here with the baby, and I’ll let you know as soon as I figure out where she is.”

Pepper nodded. “Alright, be safe.” She couldn’t keep the concerned look off of her face. “I know my pregnancy has been a bit rough on her. I hope this wasn’t…” she trailed off. “I’m sure she’s fine,” she said in her usual no-nonsense tone. 

Tony appreciated the attempt at comfort before he took off, stopping by the tower first to grab a suit. It would be easier to scour the city that way. He had no idea where Ava could be, and even though Jarvis was right about her being an adult who could make her own decisions, he couldn’t stop himself from being so worried.

,,,

The more Ava thought about it, the more she realized that maybe it was stupid to be so jealous of a tiny little baby who wasn’t even aware of who she was, and certainly hadn’t gotten the choice to pick his parents. And maybe it wouldn’t be all bad. Maybe the dynamics of their family wouldn’t be quite the same, but change wasn’t always bad. And she understood Tony’s need to prove himself as a good father in a way he’d never be able to with Ava. She’d already been too old and too damaged by the time she’d gotten to him for that.

But she was going to be an older sister. It would mean that the baby would never grow up feeling alone the way Ava had. And she could interfere in his raising enough to make sure that he was cool, and maybe they’d even be friends despite their age difference. There was a large part of her that rebelled at the idea, and just wanted everything to go on as it had before. But she knew that that would be impossible, so there was no point in wishing for such a thing.

She finished getting dressed, and ate a quick breakfast before heading out to go to school. There was no point in using the new baby as an excuse to get out of it, since that would mean waiting around at the tower for news. She didn’t even know what the baby looked like, or what his name was. Would he look anything like Ava? She didn’t take very much after Tony for sure, and had no idea who her biological mother was, so it was more likely that they wouldn’t look very similar at all.

Ava was too lost in thought as she walked, and she nearly walked face first right into a wall. She laughed at her own clumsiness, and then neatly sidestepped it to continue on her way. She didn’t expect someone to suddenly reach out and slap her across the face.

Ava winced and took a staggered step back, then blinked her eyes open to yell or demand an answer, or anything, but she found herself completely at a loss. She had been on a sidewalk on the way to school a moment ago, but now she was standing in her bedroom in the tower. It looked exactly the same as when she’d left it just a short while ago, but she couldn’t help getting a feeling of wrongness from the room. 

And then the door suddenly burst open, and Ava whirled around to see a young man with short light red hair and brown eyes. He was glaring at Ava. “Who the hell are you?”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows, and let her backpack slide off of her shoulders so it dropped to the floor with a soft thump, and she shifted into a stance so she’d be ready to fight if the man tried to get any closer to her. She was surprised that Jarvis hadn’t given her any warning about an intruder in the tower. “I should be asking you that. How’d you get in the tower?”

“I happen to live here,” he snarled. “As if you don’t already know that.”

Ava frowned. “I think I would’ve noticed some crazy weirdo living with us.”

The man’s anger seemed to slowly shift into something more along the lines of confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“This is my room, in my home, dumbass.”

The man blinked a few times, and his muscles seemed to tense up even more. “You’re lying.”

Ava wasn’t sure who the intruder was, but she figured that the easiest way to get him to calm down would be to make him understand that this was her house, and he was the one who wasn’t supposed to be here. “Jarvis, tell this guy who I am.” There was no response, and Ava risked taking her eyes off an enemy to look towards the ceiling. “Jarvis? Buddy? You there?”

Instead of the familiar and comforting voice of the person she knew and loved, the man in front of her just stared at her like she was the crazy one. “Um, if you think you have some kind of imaginary friend that’ll-”

“Shut up. I need to figure out what the hell is wrong with Jarvis. Whoever you are, my dad will take care of you as soon as he gets back.” She went to shove past him to get out into the main area of the third floor, but the man grabbed her arm and squeezed tightly. “Let go of me.” 

He shook his head. “No way. I’m not going to just let you go traipsing around like you own the place. I need to call the police so that you can get arrested for trespassing.”

Ava growled. “It’s not trespassing if this is where I live!” She didn’t want to stand around arguing with the idiot all day. How did someone not realize when they were an intruder somewhere? She whipped her wings out, knocking the man back, giving her ample time to run away from him. She didn’t bother with the elevator, just flung herself over the railing and flew down to the ground floor. “Jarvis?” He still didn’t answer, and Ava was very worried.

She wasn’t sure where to go, or who the intruder was. Maybe he had superpowers that he could use to kill her with or something. Maybe it was best to just leave for now, and call Tony to come and help her take back the tower. Or maybe one of the other Avengers, since Tony was probably pretty busy taking care of the new baby right now.

Just as she was thinking that, she could hear footsteps nearby, and she looked around the living room to find a place to hide. That’s when she realized that the living room definitely did not look the same as she’d left it. Not only had the furniture all been rearranged, but it was mostly different furniture, too. The only thing she recognized was the couch she’d bought last night to replace the one Pepper inadvertently ruined. What the hell was going on? There’s no way everything could’ve been switched out and moved around in the half hour she’d been gone. 

Stupidly, she let her shock make her less aware of her surroundings, and a moment later, she was being tackled to the floor. “Aha! I caught you! Don’t even think that you can get away from me!”

Ava kicked and fought until she was able to crawl free, and after a moment of consideration, she decided to hold Captain America’s shield in one hand, and Thor’s hammer in the other. She thought it would make for good intimidation tactics. “Back off already! Who are you?”

Before either of them could lunge forward to keep fighting, the elevator dinged open. They both refused to look away from each other, so Ava didn’t know who was coming until she heard a soft gasp, and then she peered at the newcomer out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to relax at the sight of Tony standing there, until she realized that his hair was streaked with silvery lines, and there were a lot more wrinkles on his face than she remembered. She frowned. “Dad…?”

Tony reached up to cover his mouth with one hand, and his eyes seemed to be filling up with tears. Ava had absolutely no idea what was going on. And the red head she was facing off against seemed equally confused. “Dad, she just showed up out of nowhere, and Friday warned me of an intruder, and-”

Ava frowned at the man. “Why would you call him that?” But even as she asked, her mind was already racing with the possibilities. Tony clearly looked older than he had yesterday, almost everything in the living room seemed unfamiliar, and there was a man calling Tony ‘dad’. A few hours ago, Ava would’ve said something like this was impossible. But she should’ve known better after living with Tony for even just a couple of years. Nothing was really impossible. Apparently not even time travel.


	76. Chapter 76

Ava had never seen Tony cry so much before in the entire time they’d known each other, and it made her feel a bit uncomfortable. Apparently it had the same effect on the boy who was trying to face off against her, because his shoulders seemed to lose some of the tension in them, and he turned more fully to face Tony. “Dad? What’s wrong?” 

Tony glanced at the guy once, but then hurried forward until he was standing right in front of Ava. “What kind of cruel trick is this?” 

“It isn’t a trick. It’s really me.” She looked around the unfamiliar living room, and then back at Tony. She was in a weird world, and she had no way of understanding how she had gotten here, or why, but she knew that it was absolutely vital that she was successful in convincing Tony that she was really his daughter Ava if she wanted any chance of getting back home to her own time. “Ask me anything that only I could know.”

He just blinked a few times, looking so confused by everything happening at the moment, and the other guy seemed confused as well. She wasn’t sure if it was taking Tony so long to think of a question because he was too distracted by her presence, or just because it had been a long enough time since he’d last seen her that he couldn’t remember anything that only Ava would know. Finally, he nodded towards the couch, which had been brand new a few hours ago, but was an older item in good condition now. “Why did I buy that?”

Ava smiled lightly at the easy question. “You didn’t buy it, I did. Because I thought it would be gross to keep the couch that Pepper’s water broke on.”

Tony’s chin wobbled, and his tears didn’t dry up as he covered the small remaining distance between them, and pulled Ava into a hug. “How is this even possible?” he whispered. “You look just like I remember you.”

Ava wondered if that was just as weird for Tony as seeing him so old was for her. “How long has it been?” she had to ask.

Before Tony could answer, the other guy cleared his throat obnoxiously. “Hey! Will someone please tell me what’s going on here?”

Tony finally pulled away from his hug with Ava, but he didn’t move far, and he sniffled a few times before turning to look at the guy. “Felix, I know you’ve never met before, but you must have seen some of the pictures around the place before, right? This is your sister, Ava Stark.”

Ava’s eyes widened in surprise, and when she looked at Felix with new eyes, she could tell that he was just as surprised by the revelation. “So I take it that I’ve somehow skipped past more than just a couple of weeks?”

Felix kept staring at Ava in shock, as if he wasn’t sure that she was real. “I’m nineteen years old,” he said in solemn voice.

Ava had known just from looking at him that he wasn’t a little kid, but somehow the idea of her younger brother being older than her by any amount of time, let alone an entire year, seemed absolutely crazy, and made her stomach twist up tightly into knots. “Oh,” was the only thing that she could actually think of saying. What else was there to say? It wasn’t like any of her classes at school prepared her for what to do in the case that she wound up almost two decades in the future. Thinking of school made her mind immediately turn to her school friends, and then she gasped loudly. “Angel- where is she? And Peter, and Miles, and Hayden?”

Tony sank down onto the couch, and then pat the cushion next to him so that Ava would know to sit down in that spot. She looked at him with wide eyes, but sat down next to him. Felix seemed really confused, but he ended up sitting down in the chair next to the couch so that he would be able to get a good view of both Tony and Ava. 

After a long moment of silence, Tony reached out to take one of Ava’s hands. “I never thought I’d see you again,” he said softly. “What happened? Where have you been? How do you still look so young?”

Oh, so Tony hadn’t even considered the possibility of time travel. Which was entirely fair, since it wasn’t like that would’ve been her first thought in any given situation without all the context and evidence that she had in this scenario. “This is probably going to sound kind of insane. Then again, you work with superheroes for a living, and have to perform for board meetings all the time, so I’m sure that you’re used to things being at least a little bit crazy. But all I know is that I was walking around the day that Felix was born, and I skipped school to take some time to think, and I realized a lot of stuff about myself and our family, and I was ready to- while, it doesn’t matter now. But the point is that as I was walking, someone randomly smacked me in the face, and I have no idea who, but the next thing I know I was back in my room here, but apparently nineteen years in the future. I have no idea what happened, or who did this to me, or why. So is there really no version of me here that’s nineteen years older?”

Tony shook his head, and a haunted look entered his eyes. “No. I went from having one of the happiest days of my life to having one of the absolute worst. I never expected- I just never knew what happened. We filed a missing persons report with the police, and of course they did it because of who I am, but the whole time I was basically being told that with your track record, the odds were that you’d just run away. And with how you’d acted about the idea of getting a new sibling…” he trailed off, not needing to finish that statement for Ava to know what he meant. “Of course when a few days passed and you still hadn’t come home, and nobody had heard from you at all, and Jarvis said that even he couldn’t find you anywhere, I didn’t know what to think anymore. You were just gone, and there was nothing I could do except constantly think about the worst possible things that could have happened to you.”

Ava tried to offer a comforting smile, but she had no idea if it worked or not. She knew that when she’d first met Tony, he was a very different person than he had been by the time two years had passed them by. She could only imagine how much he must have changed in the time since he’d last seen her. She let out a soft huff at the thought. “This means that in the grand scheme of things, you’ve really only known me for a speck of time. We didn’t meet for the first time until I was already sixteen, we were together for two years, minus three months of a coma and various amounts of time where I was either kidnapped or away, and then another nineteen years have passed. So basically I’ve been an entirely insignificant aspect of your life.”

Tony quickly shook his head. “I’ve never considered you to be insignificant to my life, no matter how little time we may have had together. Having you in my life made me a better person for longer than just those two years. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think that I ever would have been ready to be a parent.” He glanced over at Felix for a moment.

The young man narrowed his eyes as he looked at Ava, and it seemed like some of the shock had worn off. “It’s hard to believe that we’re siblings. We don’t look anything alike.”

Ava shrugged. “Half-siblings. And I don’t know how much you know about me, but I was a bit mechanically engineered to make me into a super weapon before I was even born, so I think that would explain away a few differences.”

Felix looked back and forth between Tony and Ava before standing up and walking closer to Ava. “Wait, so are you saying that all that stuff is actually true? Mom and Dad always told me stories about you when I was growing up. Stuff like you being able to make anything you want, and being able to fly, and all that.”

“It’s all true,” Ava assured him. She stood up and easily made her favorite wings appear. The basic layout of the room was still the same as before, at least enough for her to be able to jump up and start flying around in the open space above them. She landed pretty quickly, though, knowing that there was a lot more important stuff going on than just her trying to show off. It seemed to work at impressing Felix, though. It made sense, since he had two non-powered parents, which meant that there was no reason for him to be able to do anything unnatural the way that Ava could. Though she would find it easy to believe that he’d inherited Tony’s brains, since even she’d gotten that bit from him.

Felix blinked a few times, and then cleared his throat. “Wow.”

Tony had a smug look on his face. “I told you that it was all true.”

Felix just shrugged. “In my defense, it sounded like they were all made-up stories. I thought you guys just talked about her like that because it made you feel better about losing a kid or something, I don’t know.”

“Well hey, turns out I wasn’t lost,” Ava interjected, trying to lighten up the mood. “Just misplaced, you know? Took a bit of a tumble through time. No big deal.” Even as she said that, though, she knew that it was a very big deal. It had only been a day or so since she’d last seen Tony, but for everyone else, it had been longer than Ava had even been alive for. She sighed. “So you didn’t answer me about where all my friends are now.”

Tony shrugged, a sad look on his face. “Your school friends naturally split apart when they graduated. I don’t have their contact information, but I’m sure I could find it easily enough. Peter-” he cut himself off with a choked noise. He glanced over at Felix, and then back at Ava. “A lot has happened in twenty years. Maybe it would be best to not dwell on the past.”

It didn’t fly over Ava’s head that something was being kept secret from her, but she decided that Tony had earned himself the right to at least a couple of secrets, and she would find it all out for herself eventually anyways. For now, she would just play along and let Tony pretend that everything was a lot more okay than it clearly was. She sighed, and then decided to ask about one of her other important friends. “What happened to Jarvis? He wouldn’t respond to me earlier.”

Tony looked like someone had just punched him in the stomach, while Felix just looked confused. “Who’s Jarvis? You mentioned that name before.”

“Ava…” he trailed off, looking like some mix of sad and some other feelings that Ava couldn’t quite identify.

She felt guilty for making him look that way. “A lot’s happened in twenty years,” she finished for him in a grim tone. Though if Felix didn’t know who Jarvis was, that had to mean that whatever had happened to him had been a really long time ago.

The idea of something bad happening to Jarvis felt devastating to Ava. He was her first real friend, and had always been there for her no matter what idiotic thing she had done. She wondered if Tony had ever discovered how human Jarvis had become. Before she could stop it from happening, she was silently crying, hot tears running down her cheeks.

Tony leaned forward to pull Ava into a tight hug, which she eagerly returned. “I’m sorry. I know that you knew him for way longer than me and-”

“It’s okay,” Tony interrupted. “It’s okay to be sad. I know that you two were close. It’s just- it’s my fault,” he admitted. Ava pulled away from him, and waited for him to continue, trying to keep her face as judgement-free as possible. “After you disappeared I was a mess, and I was scared, and it led me to doing something very stupid. I messed up, and as a result of my idiocy, Jarvis died. We have Friday now, which you might have already heard.”

Even though she’d already guessed something serious had to have happened, to hear that Jarvis was actually dead made Ava feel just about the worst things she’d ever felt before in her life. Ava jumped to her feet, and began slowly backing away from Tony and Felix. “I can’t stay here,” she mumbled. “I need to get home.” She needed to make sure that none of this ever happened. Tony said he messed up because Ava disappeared, so if she got back to her own time before he noticed she was gone, then Jarvis wouldn’t be dead, and she could still see all of her friends, and her girlfriend, and she wouldn’t have a younger brother who was a year older than her, and she wouldn’t have to look at Tony’s face. She finally realized what it was that made him look so different, beyond the gray hairs and wrinkles. It was the fact that he just looked so tired. So done with the world. Tony was never supposed to look that way. He was never supposed to give up.

She started towards the hallway, but Felix was the one who reached out to grab her arm and yank her back. “Hey, don’t be an idiot. Unless you suddenly figured out how you skipped ahead two decades, running around outside isn’t going to solve anything except making Dad more worried about you. I get that this whole situation is weird beyond words, but this is the kind of thing that we should all be trying to figure out together.”

Ava tried to tug her arm free, but it was a half-hearted effort at best. “You don’t even know me.”

Felix smiled. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve heard so many stories about you that we may as well have grown up side by side. I don’t know what you think Dad is like, but I know that there hasn’t been a single day that he’s ever stopped thinking about you or missing you.”

“Well I don’t know anything about you, except for the fact that I hated you before you were even born.” She hurried on when she saw the hurt look on Felix’s face. “It was an insane situation. If you really know that much about me, then you must know that I didn’t even meet Dad until I was sixteen, and that when I found out Pepper was pregnant, it felt to me like I was being replaced because I wasn’t good enough. And just when I accepted that that was never the case, I ended up here.”

Felix looked amazed. “Wait, you’re saying that all those stories I’ve heard about you took place in just two years? How the hell can any kid face that much trouble in such a short amount of time and still be able to act like a normal human being?”

Ava blinked a few times, thrown off by the unexpected response. “Uh, I don’t know what it is that you’ve heard exactly, but I had more than my fair share of moments where I acted completely irrational and stupid.”

From where he was still seated, Tony let out a wheezy sounding laugh. “To think that you still live in a time where your biggest concerns are getting over what happened with Obadiah, sibling rivalry, and navigating teenage romances.”

Felix let go of Ava so that he could go over to Tony. He knelt down in front of the couch, and reached out to put a hand on one of Tony’s shoulders. “Dad? You know that it’s all going to be okay, right? I know everything seems hopeless, but it’s not. You just got back the daughter that you haven’t been able to shut up about for as long as I can remember. If something like that can happen, then anything’s possible.”

Maybe anything really was possible. “Humans don’t have wings because they aren’t aerodynamic, but when I make wings I can fly. Humans can’t pick up Thor’s hammer, but when I make it I can hold it. Things that should be entirely impossible, and yet I can make them,” she mused. “I wonder what would happen if I were to make my very own time machine.”

Tony’s head snapped upwards so that he could stare over at Ava with wide eyes. “Nothing’s impossible,” he started.

Ava nodded. “Exactly! And I have the ability to create things that become a reality for me, so why not that?”

Tony stood up, and slowly walked over to Ava. “Do you know what that would mean? If you could go back to when you came from with certain pieces of information from now, then maybe you could stop the world from ending up the way that it is!”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean?” She understood how unbearably painful it was to lose Jarvis, but she didn’t think that that was anything that affected the entire world. 

Tony sighed, and nodded over to the nearest window. “Look outside.”

Confused about where this was going, she walked over to the window and peered out. There was barely anyone outside. “Friday, what time is it?”

“Eleven forty-three in the morning,” an accented female voice responded. The sound of it only made her miss Jarvis even more.   
But more importantly, it was almost noon on a weekday in New York City and there was hardly anyone outside. “What the hell is going on?” 

Tony sighed. “A lot’s happened in twenty years,” he said again.


	77. Chapter 77

Ava felt like her heart and soul weighed about a million pounds by the time Tony and Felix finished catching her up on all of the major events that had happened in the past two decades. It all sounded so impossible, like something straight out of a nightmare. But when she excused herself to go to the bathroom, she tried pinching her arms to wake herself up, but it didn’t work, and only made the unfamiliar lady AI ask her if she was alright. That felt like being punched in the gut, and she doubled over. It suddenly felt like breathing was the most impossible task in the world, though she couldn’t for the life of herself figure out why. 

There was a knock on the bathroom door a minute later, but Ava couldn’t move, and she could only just barely hear the sounds of someone talking, but none of the words made any sense to her. The bathroom door swung open a moment later, and then she felt someone reaching out to rest one hand lightly on her arm, and talking to her in a calm, soothing voice.

After several very long seconds, she realized that it was Felix, and he was telling her to take in deep breaths, and then slowly let them out. She took his advice, and then finally looked up. Tony was hovering in the doorway, looking fairly freaked out, and Ava instantly felt guilty. What right did she have to panic like that when Tony was the one who had lived through everything? She’d gotten the easy ‘skip cutscene’ option.

She abruptly stood up. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to-”

Tony hurried forward to pull her into a hug. “Are you okay? I know that that was all a lot to take in. I’ve had twenty years for all that shit to be spread out over. You got to learn about all of it in a couple of hours.”

Ava returned the hug, and even though this Tony wasn’t exactly the same as the one she remembered, hugging him still made her feel safe in a way that few things did. For a man of his age, he still seemed strong, instead of the average withered up old men that Ava had seen in the streets before. 

The three of them all returned to the living room, and settled down in their seats. They were all silent for a few minutes, until Felix was the one who piped up. “So, Ava, you said that you were able to make and hold Thor’s hammer before, right?” She nodded once. “How do you know that it was actually one of the same strength and weight as his?”

Ava shrugged. “It’s not like I could test it out by having other people try to pick it up, because only I can touch my holograms. But when I dropped it, and it felt like the entire tower shook. The look on Thor’s face was just priceless.” Then she tilted her head as she looked at Felix. “Why do you ask?”

Felix flicked his eyes towards Tony for a moment before focusing on Ava. “If it’s really possible for you to make legitimate recreations of a mystical item like Mjolnir, then maybe you won’t need a time machine to get home. Just a time stone.”

Tony’s eyes widened, and Ava quickly thought back to the many stories she’d been told about in the past several hours. “I don’t know…” she trailed off, not sure how to articulate her feelings about why exactly that didn’t sound like a very good plan. “I mean the hammer seemed heavy, but what if it’s just because I made a really heavy object that just happens to look like Thor’s hammer?”

Felix hopped up to his feet. “Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out. Come on.” He grabbed Ava’s arm to yank her up as well, and then pulled her in the direction of the elevator. Tony quickly followed along, though there was a bemused look on his face, which meant that he wasn’t quite sure what was going through Felix’s mind either. It was a bit amusing that Tony could be so bad at understanding either of his children, especially considering the fact that he’d known Felix for nineteen entire years. 

They ended up taking the elevator all the way up to the roof, and then Ava and Tony both stopped to give Felix almost identical looks of confusion. “Okay, so would you care to explain why exactly you decided to bring us up here?”

Felix raised his arms up to gesture towards the sky. “We need to figure out just how precisely those holograms of yours actually capture the spirit of the real thing you’re trying to make.”

Ava shuddered. “Ugh, please don’t talk to me about the ‘spirit’ of my holograms.” She suddenly remembered when she’d first been under Obadiah’s control, and had tried to lash out at Tony with human looking holograms. She wondered why she hadn’t remembered that when she’d copied herself to fight against Steve. And of course she could never forget that time she’d tried to make a copy of herself to show off to Peter and it had ended up looking like straight up nightmare fuel. Of course, that only served to remind her of what Tony had said had become of Peter, and it sent a sharp pang of sadness through her chest. She realized a moment later that both Tony and Felix were just staring at her, and she sighed. “Continue.”

Felix just shrugged and kept talking, though Tony kept his attention mostly on Ava. “Well, if you make a copy of Thor’s hammer up here, then you can find out whether it’s still got its magical properties when you make it.”

“Not magic,” Tony grumbled.

Ava couldn’t help looking impressed. “Why didn’t I ever think of trying that sooner? Does this mean that I could have been shooting lightning at fools for years?”

Felix shrugged again. “You’ll never know until you try it.”

Ava was about to make Thor’s hammer, but then she thought of an even better use of her time, and made a holographic copy of the invisible cloak from Harry Potter. “I should have tried this out ages ago.” She draped the cloak over her, but she could tell by the unimpressed looks on the guys’ faces that nothing had happened. The cloak disappeared a moment later. “Darn. There goes that theory, and all the many possibilities that go with it.”

“Hey, don’t give up so fast. That cloak isn’t actually a real thing. Thor’s hammer is. It would only take a minute to find out for sure. What could it hurt?”

Ava nodded, and made Thor’s hammer. She held it up towards the sky, which was dull and overcast. She wondered if this future always looked this way. She hoped not. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, and then paused as she wondered how to even activate the hammer. Were there some kind of magic words to make it work, or was it something only an Asgardian was capable of doing, or-

All three of the humans leapt back as a large train of glowing white electricity shot down from the clouds and connected with the holographic hammer. Ava made the hammer go away, mostly out of shock, and then she slowly turned to look at Felix. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god, I just did that!” She let out a loud whoop, and leapt up and down a couple of times. “I can summon lightning! I’m basically a god! Woo!” 

Tony and Felix both just stared at her as she cheered, and she settled down and cleared her throat a couple of times. Felix walked over to Ava, and looked at her with wide eyes. “This is incredible. Your power goes far beyond anything I ever could have imagined, even after hearing all of Dad’s stories about you.” He looked over at Tony with obvious growing excitement. “You know what this means, right?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, now let’s head back inside.” They took the elevator back down to the first floor of their home, and followed Ava into the kitchen when she suddenly decided that she was starving. As she rummaged through the refrigerator and cabinets, wondering what all of the unfamiliar brands were, Tony spoke up. “Can you make things without a frame of reference?”

Ava tilted her head to think. Had she ever made anything that she hadn’t seen beforehand? How would she even know to make something if she’d never seen it before? “To be honest, I’m not really sure. I mean, I make those wings, but I’ve never actually seen a person with wings like that outside of fictional movies.” She frowned as she thought harder. “But that cloak wouldn’t work because it’s fiction, right? So why would those wings work?”

“Maybe we’ll just never understand the extent of your abilities,” Felix said in an offhand voice. 

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t think that there’s anything about this world that can’t be eventually understood. But I guess there’s more important things to worry about than why you couldn’t use a magic cloak from a book series. For now, let’s just see if we can focus on actually accomplishing the impossible. I can get you photographs of the stones from years ago, but it would be way too dangerous to try and get you an in-person look at them. Do you think that that would be good enough?”

Ava bit her lip, and then shrugged. “I can’t really say for sure. I’ve never even seen those stones in action. All I know is what you’ve told me about. I don’t know. I guess it’s worth a shot though, right?”

Tony nodded. “Right. Friday, go through the archives and find all the footage you can from all encounters with Raisin Face.”

The three of them walked back into the living room, and turned to look at the television on the wall. A few seconds later, it turned on and started showing several videos and pictures of a pretty serious looking fight. Ava gulped, not wanting to look at the people she loved getting hurt, but knew that this was important. She needed to get back home. Well, technically she was home right now, but she needed to get back to the version of all of this that felt like home.

She stared at all of the images, trying to focus only on the gauntlet itself. After looking through everything, which didn’t take very long because there was a surprisingly small amount to go off of, Ava stood up and stretched her arms up over her head. “So should I just like… go for it? This feels like the kind of thing that should have more leading up to it or something.A big climactic moment.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “You have the chance to literally change history and you don’t think that that’s climactic enough?”

“Alright, fine, fine.” She paused, and then lowered her arms. “How exactly am I supposed to change history? If this Thanos guy is already on his way to Earth in my time, then there’s nothing I can do to stop him. Warning people in advance won’t help if he’s really as powerful as you’ve said, and all it will do is cause a lot of panic.”

Tony reached out to take one of Ava’s hands. “If this works, then it makes you just as powerful as him. Maybe even more so. And I know that you’re a brilliant kid. If there’s anyone who can figure out what to do, it’s you.”

Ava shook her head. “You’re not even going to try and help me brainstorm? If this really works, then it won’t matter how much time I spend here because I’ll still be able to get back home to the right time, right?”

That tired look was back in Tony’s eyes, though it somehow seemed even worse than before. “I’m sorry, Ava, I really am, but I can’t help you with this. I’ve tried everything in my power to stop Thanos, and nothing worked. I live in a giant tower in the middle of the city, so there’s no way that Thanos doesn’t know where I am. If he wanted me gone, it would take about as long as a blink or a snap to get rid of me. The fact that I’m even still here is proof that he knows I can’t do anything to bring him down. I gave up a long time ago.”

Somehow, that admission hurt just as badly as hearing the news of how many loved ones had been killed. In a way, Tony had been killed, at least in spirit. He wasn’t the same man that she knew from her own time. He’d survived so much adversity in life, but in the time since Ava had disappeared, he had finally been broken. 

Ava clenched her jaw, and then pulled Tony into a hug. “I’m going to fix all of this, I swear it. I’ll make the world’s biggest paradox if that’s what it takes.”

“What do you mean?”

Ava glanced over at Felix. “If I go back and stop Thanos from happening, which is obviously the only thing to do since defeating him now wouldn’t bring everyone back, then wouldn’t that cause some kind of weird ripple in time?”

Felix shrugged. “Don’t look at me as if I’m some kind of time travel expert. But in the stories, aren’t paradoxes always caused by people going into the past?”

“I am going into the past. Even if it’s my present, it’s still going backwards from where I’m standing right here and now.”

Felix shrugged again. “It’s not like there’s any guide to help us figure this out. Just do your best, okay?”

Ava pulled away from Tony, and then looked down at her hand. Was she really going to do this? What if it didn’t work? What if it did? Then she’d live the rest of her life knowing that she had the power to change the entire universe whenever she felt like it. If a practically immortal being couldn’t be trusted with that kind of power, then how could Ava be? She was still just a teenager with very little life experience, and a tendency to act without thinking. 

Tony must’ve been able to see the worry on Ava’s face, because he sat down on the couch, and motioned for Ava to sit down next to him. Then Felix crammed himself on the couch on Ava’s other side. “Look, I know that all of this has to be terrifying for you. You were suddenly thrown into all of this without any warning or chance to prepare. But you have to at least try, for the sake of the world. You could save millions of lives, and billions of other organisms across the universe. You would be able to save Peter, and Jarvis, and everyone else. And that’s twenty years of life with me that you could get back. None of that sounds so bad, right?”

Ava pressed her lips together in a flat line, and tilted her head forward to stare down at her lap. Felix reached over to give her a pat on the shoulder. “You’re not going to go mad with power.” She jerked her head towards him in surprise, and he just smiled. “Even if you weren’t raised by Dad, you’re a lot more similar to him than you seem to think. You’re a good person, Ava. You can do this. We believe in you.”

Ava nodded, and then slowly stood back up. She didn’t turn around, preferring to face away from Tony and Felix so that she wouldn’t have to see the looks of disappointment on their faces when she inevitably failed at this. But they were right. She had to at least try. She had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

After a moment, there was a holographic gauntlet encasing her hand, shrunk down to fit her perfectly. There were the six colorful rocks. Ava wasn’t even entirely sure what all of them did, but that was unimportant at the moment. She focused on the green one, and thought about how much she just wanted to go home, preferably to the same moment she’d left from in order to avoid any weird time anomalies with multiples of her running around. Then she closed her eyes to envision the scene better.

When nothing happened after a moment, Ava could feel the disappointment welling up inside of her, but she crushed it down. She hadn’t expected this to work in the first place, so there was no reason to act like she’d just gotten all of her hopes and dreams crushed. She sighed, and her shoulders slumped down, and then-

She could hear all the sounds of the bustling New York City streets, and Ava’s eyes snapped open and she whirled around, arms flailing in her excitement. One of her wild limbs ended up smacking into someone, and Ava opened her mouth to apologize, but she could only stare in shock at the sight of herself, there for just a moment, and then gone the next.

Ava looked down at her hand, still wearing the holographic glove, and quickly made it disappear. Had she sent herself into the future? But if she came back and changed things how would there still be a bad future to be sent to? Thinking about that was just a big headache waiting to happen, though, so Ava decided to just quit while she was still ahead.

She let out a loud bout of joyous laughter at the sight of so many people crowded around her, all of them completely oblivious to what she’d just been through. This was what the city was meant to look like, and it was such a relief to be caught up in the normality of it all.

Then Ava made her phone so that she could call the tower. It had only been a few hours, but she missed the sound of Jarvis’ voice, and needed to reassure herself that he was really still there. “Ava, should you not be attending class right now?”

Ava shrugged even though she knew that Jarvis wouldn’t be able to see that. “Jarvis, I can’t believe it’s really you! I missed you so much!” 

She could hear the confusion in Jarvis’ voice. “You only left the tower two hours and thirty-eight minutes ago. You have spent far longer amounts of time away from home in the past.”

“I know.”

“I see,” Jarvis answered with bemusement. “Sir wanted me to let you know that things went well, Miss Potts and the new baby are healthy, and he wishes for you to call him.”

Ava nodded. “Sure, yeah. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Then she hung up, and even though she knew that Peter would be busy at school, she couldn’t resist the urge to call him. He didn’t answer, probably because he was too much of a goodie two shoes, but she left a brief voicemail asking him to come over after school. Then she called Tony. 

He answered immediately. “Ava? Is everything okay? Shouldn’t you be in school right now?”

The franticness in Tony’s voice made her feel a bit guilty, but there was nothing that she could do about it. “Yeah, I’m fine, everything’s fine. Jarvis said you wanted me to call you?”

“Oh, right.” Tony let out a small sigh. “I know this is probably going to sound kind of sudden, but Pepper and I were thinking that maybe you might want to help us name the kid. I know you have a lot going on, and it’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable with that, but I-”

Ava interrupted Tony with a small laugh. “I don’t mind. I think that it’s really sweet of you to ask.” She tilted her head, and grinned to herself. “I’ve kind of got one in mind. What do you think of the name Felix?”

Tony hummed to himself a moment before responding. “Felix. Hey, I actually like the sound of that. I’ll talk to Pepper, but I don’t see any reason why not. Anyways, you should really be getting back to your classes so that you don’t get into too much trouble. Why don’t you swing by the hospital after school so that you can meet your new brother in person?”

“Sure, I’d love to.” Then she hesitated for a moment. “Uh, actually, there’s kind of something I need to talk to you about. It’s something really important, and I don’t think we should talk about it in public. Maybe you could pick me up after school and the two of us could talk for a little bit before going back to the hospital?”

She waited for what felt like ages before Tony finally agreed. “Alright, I don’t see why not. Are you sure that everything’s okay?”

There was no way to even begin explaining her day to Tony over the phone, so she just shrugged. “I’ll tell you all about it later.” Then she hung up, and continued on her way to school.


	78. Chapter 78

Ava got into some trouble for missing half of the school day, without a single good explanation as to why, but in the end, she was able to convince the secretary not to put the absence on her record. She wouldn’t want to get Tony and Pepper all worried about her attendance when they had much more important matters to think about. Like their new baby, for one. And the fact that an alien intended to come to the planet and destroy it for another.

The rest of the day seemed to drag by impossible slow just for the sole purpose of torturing Ava. She could hardly pay attention in any of her classes when she had so much other stuff on her mind. She didn’t want to forget a single detail about the future. She wasn’t even sure if Tony would believe her, but if he did, he needed all the possible available information in order to help her figure out how to save the world.

Then the bell for the end of the day finally rang, and Ava bolted up out of her seat. She practically threw herself down the stairs, and ran outside, waiting eagerly to spot one of Tony’s many cars. She wasn’t sure which one he’d be in, but she knew all of them, so there wouldn’t be any difficulty figuring out where he was.

The other kids slowly began to file away onto the buses and into other various cars. Half an hour after the end of the school day, everyone else was gone, and there was no sign of Tony anywhere. She sank down to sit on the edge of the curb, and wrapped her arms around her knees. She didn’t want to be jealous of that new baby. Of Felix. But Tony was so enamored with the kid that he’d apparently forgotten that he’d told Ava he would pick her up after school. 

There was no point in waiting around here any longer. If Tony did manage to remember her at some point, hopefully he’d be smart enough to figure out that Ava wasn’t a big enough loser to wait around for him for hours. She wasn’t much of a driver, but she decided to test out her skills. 

She made a holographic motorcycle, and then hopped on it. Of course Ava wasn’t an idiot, and she covered her head with a helmet. Then she revved the engine a few times just because she could, and then took off towards the tower. It was still her home for now, though she wondered if she’d think of it as home once she was off at university. 

Despite having never ridden on a motorcycle before, Ava found that it was surprisingly easy. Or maybe it was just that she’d created a bike that was easier to handle than most of them were. And it helped that she knew she had fast enough reaction time to fly away if anything serious were about to happen. 

As she drove back to the tower, she spotted one of Tony’s favorite cars headed the other way. She rolled her eyes at his lateness. There was barely even any traffic, at least not compared to some of the really busy times, which meant that Tony had no excuse for his total lateness, other than that he hadn’t thought of her long enough to remember his commitment. Felix was a lucky kid to have Tony Stark for a father, though he might feel less lucky if Tony and Pepper ever decided to go for baby number two.

When she got back to the tower, she went to Tony’s private floor of the parking garage, and pulled her holographic motorcycle into one of the empty spaces. She got off, tossing her helmet behind her, and then walked away, feeling it the instant the holograms disappeared from lack of direct contact with her.

Ava took the elevator up to the third floor of their home, and then threw herself down onto her bed. “Jarvis, I think it’s really amazing that you’re alive and well. And I think it’s awesome that-” she cut herself off as she realized that she had other people she wanted to call. She made a phone and dialed Angel’s number. Her girlfriend answered on the first ring. “Angel! I love you and I’m so happy that you’re okay!”

“You drunk or something?”

Ava shook her head, even though she knew that Angel wouldn’t be able to see it. “No. I’m just really happy. It’s a long story, and you probably wouldn’t believe it. Strongly features time travel and a hostile alien takeover of our planet.”

There were a few seconds of silence, and then Angel sighed. “Alright, I definitely need more details. And of course I believe you! You can make literally anything you want, including living creatures. Time travel doesn’t really sound so outlandish in comparison to that.”

Ava grinned, happy to have someone who supported her and was there for her. She rolled over until she got into a comfy position, and then told Angel everything about her short visit to the future. Angel was mostly silent, other than asking the occasional question. Ava didn’t tell Angel about all the stuff future-Tony had told her, mostly because it would take too long and sound very frightening. But she did mention all of the basics.

By the time she was done talking, she felt almost like she was out of breath. Angel gave her a few seconds to relax, and then she started talking. “Damn, that sounds like a really insane situation. I’m sorry that you had to deal with all of that on your own. I can’t even imagine what the world would look like without an entire half of all the people. Are you going to hang up and call Peter now?”

Ava smiled. “You really know me too well. Yeah, I think I have to, just to hear his voice and remind myself that he really is okay, you okay? I’ll talk to you later though, okay? Love you.”

“Love you too,” Angel murmured softly before hanging up from her end.

Ava dialed Peter’s number, and waited anxiously for him to answer the phone. Logically, she knew that there was no reason to be so worried about him, because nothing bad had happened yet in this time. But on the other hand, she wasn’t even sure how accurately her trip to the future applied to this time, because things were already different here based solely on the fact that Ava was back and not missing for twenty years. 

Peter finally answered, right when Ava thought that she was about to have an actual heart attack from the stress of it all. “Ava? I don’t recognize the number, but I’m assuming that it’s you, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that- well. Uh.” She really didn’t want to cause a panic by explaining everything that might happen. She knew that Peter would probably be able to handle the whole time travel aspect of it, but she felt like it would be cruel to tell him that he was going to die. So she just shrugged, and then rolled over enough to wrap herself up in her blanket. “It’s a dangerous world out there, and all that. I’m just glad that you’re okay. I feel like we haven’t really talked in ages.” There was a light knock on her bedroom door, and Ava glanced up. “You should come over tomorrow, if you have time. Just to hang out.”

“Sure thing. Talk to you later, Ava.” 

She nodded, and then let her phone disappear before getting up, dragging the blanket with her, and cracked the door open. “Oh, hey Dad. Wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon after you blew me off.” She tried to go for a teasing tone, but based on Tony’s wince, she knew she’d veered right into a hurt and bitter voice instead.

Tony looked at Ava with his eyebrows drawn together. “Can I come in?” Ava sighed, and then shrugged before backing away enough for Tony to enter the room. He sat down gingerly on the edge of her bed, and Ava remained standing. “I’m really sorry,” he said quietly. “Felix- Pepper agreed on the name, by the way- he was crying a lot, and seemed to calm down when I was holding him, and-”

Ava took in a deep breath, then let it out as a heavy sigh. She knew that she couldn’t really blame Tony for wanting to be a good father. “It’s fine,” she cut him off with. “We still need to talk, though.”

There was a nervous look on his face. “I know.” 

He squeezed his eyes shut, and tilted his head slightly away from Ava. She furrowed her eyebrows at the sight. “Wait a second- did you avoid coming here because you didn’t want to talk to me?” She wasn’t sure whether that should be interpreted as more or less upsetting than him being too caught up in Felix to remember Ava.

Tony clenched his jaw. “I knew this was coming, but I thought that maybe I could just avoid it. But it was stupid of me to think so.”

Now Ava was really confused. “How could you possibly already know about everything? I doubt Angel told you. And even if you guys were weirdly in direct communication, I didn’t tell her until after I got home after being stood up by you.”

Tony frowned. “I know you don’t want to stay in the tower anymore.”

Ava dropped her blanket out of surprise. “I what? What the heck are you talking about? When did I ever say anything that made you think that?”

Tony seemed surprised by her immediate defensiveness. “You’ve made it pretty clear for a while that you don’t want anything to do with having a new brother, and I feel like you’ve been avoiding me lately, and you bought a new couch even though the old one is where we first really talked to each other, and-”

Ava leaned forward to pull Tony into a hug. The angle was a bit awkward because she was still standing and he was sitting, but he returned the hug automatically, as if it were just a reflex to do so. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t want to leave. I mean, I do eventually, like when I go off to college and everything. But I don’t want to leave right now. I want to be with you and Pepper, and I want to be a part of Felix’s life. It would just be absurd to imagine doing anything different than that.”

When she finally pulled away from the hug, she could see the confusion on Tony’s face. She sat down next to him on the bed, and gave then reached over to pat him on the shoulder. Tony cleared his throat a couple of times before speaking. “So then what was it that you wanted to talk to me about? You sounded so serious on the phone, and you said you didn’t want to talk in public, which I assumed was because you were afraid I would make a scene and embarrass you.”

Ava quickly shook her head. “Definitely not. The only thing you’ve ever done that embarrassed me is when you decided to start singing along to Lady Gaga my friends were over.” She shuddered in horror at the memory. “I didn’t want to talk in public because I didn’t want people to overhear me. It’s kind of a long story, but the most important things you need to know is that I went to the future, and it’s a future where half the planet’s population was killed off by a crazy purple alien dude with the not fun kind of crystals.”

Tony arched one eyebrow. “Alright, I’m listening. You’ve certainly got my attention.”

Ava nodded, and then curled her feet up onto the bed, pressing herself into Tony’s side. “Great.” Then she launched into an explanation of how wild her day had been. She finished lamely with, “so yeah. That’s what happened.”

Tony had that gleam in his eyes that always appeared when he had some clever idea for a new thing that he could build. “I can’t believe you actually made a magicky rock to use for traveling back in time. It sounds completely impossible, but I know that you’re telling the truth. Do you think that you could do it again? Or with those other stones that you mentioned?”

Ava shrugged. “The time one, yeah, I could probably do it again. But it seems pretty risky to try and mess around with time like that, you know? Like what gives me the right to possibly mess up the entire universe just because I’m capable of doing that? As for the others, I’m not sure. I don’t even know what all of them do, so I probably wouldn’t be able to use them. Why?”

Tony shrugged. “We still have a little time, though obviously not enough that we can afford to lie around doing nothing at any point. But it might be enough time for some research. Obviously we need to stop this Thanos before he can get the chance to cause so much harm to the world. He doesn’t even have all of those stones yet, but you do, right? It means that at the moment, we’ve actually got the upper hand.” He wrapped his arm around Ava’s shoulder to pull her into a hug. “I’m really proud of you for making it through something so crazy.”

Ava smiled, and then abruptly hopped to her feet. “Come on, you said I could go to the hospital today to meet Felix, right? Even if I have technically already met him.”

Tony smiled, and led the way to the elevator. “I wonder if it would have affected anything if you’d chosen a different name for your brother. Not that I have any interest in changing it; I’m just curious. This time travel business is quite fascinating. I never thought that it would even be possible.”

“Well, I don’t think that time is an infinite loop,” Ava said as they rode down the elevator. “If it was, then I wouldn’t be able to be here right now, since the last time I was aware of a timeline, it involved me being gone for two decades. This stuff is pretty confusing,” she admitted with a small laugh. “I’m glad that I have someone as brilliant as you to work it all out with.” Tony’s cheeks flushed a very faint pink at the compliment, and Ava felt pretty satisfied with herself. 

The drive to the hospital seemed to take no time at all, and then she was suddenly in the right room while Tony went to grab coffee for himself and Pepper. He knew Ava well enough to not bother offering her any. 

She walked over to sit down in the chair next to the bed. “Hey,” she said softly. “How is he?”

“Healthy,” Pepper answered in an equally quiet voice. “Do you want to hold him?”

Ava froze for a moment. She’d never actually considered the possibility of her being allowed to hold the baby. Babies were delicate, fragile, little beings. She had blood on her hands, and she didn’t want to taint Felix with it. But Pepper looked thrilled at the idea of Ava holding her brother, so she managed to force herself to nod once 

Then she leaned over, and very gently took the baby from Pepper’s arms. She made sure to carefully support his head, just like she’d read about in those baby preparation books. Then his eyelids fluttered open, revealing light brown eyes. They were so huge that they made him look a bit like an alien, though Ava had already learned that that was normal, and it was because eyes started at adult size from the beginning. 

She rocked him back and forth very slowly, not wanting to disturb him. “Hello, Felix,” she said conversationally. “I am your absolutely incredible and awesome older sister. Some people might even say that I’m better than you, because of the fact that I’ve got cool superpowers and you don’t.” She could tell that Pepper was listening to everything she was saying, but Ava stayed focused on Felix. “But I wouldn’t say that, I promise. I know that you’re going to grow up to be brilliant and kind and compassionate. A real hero type. Even when other people might give up because they’re just too old and tired, you’re going to be the kind of guy who just keeps fighting on. And I’m proud of you for that. And I’m sorry that I’m not going to really see you grow up. I’m going to have my own life somewhere else, but I promise to come and visit whenever I can. I don’t want to be some distant person who you only vaguely know, okay? You deserve better than that.” She leaned over to press a light kiss to Felix’s forehead. 

He scrunched up his features in confusion, and then let out a few hiccupy noises before he started crying loudly. Ava’s eyes widened in panic. “I’m so sorry! What did I do wrong? What can I do to fix it?”

Pepper let out a little laugh. “Here,” and she held out her arms to take Felix back. Ava quickly handed him over, hoping that his mother would be able to provide him with the comfort that he clearly didn’t feel from Ava. “He’s just hungry,” Pepper said, still sounding amused. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And even if he wasn’t hungry, or didn’t need his diaper changed, or wasn’t sick, or didn’t have any of the millions of other explanations for babies crying, he might have done it anyways just because. Don’t forget that he’s living in a big, scary, unfamiliar world, and has no idea what’s going on around him.”

Ava smiled. “Sounds a bit like me two years ago.” She averted her eyes, thinking that Pepper was going to shift aside her hospital gown for Felix, but instead she grabbed a small bottle from her bedside table, and held it up to Felix’s mouth. 

She noticed Ava’s curious glance, and explained without being asked. “I’m a busy working woman, and if I breastfeed, it could be a while before he grows out of it, which would be pretty awkward for Tony, since he’s going to be the one staying at home. Don’t worry, there’s absolutely no evidence to support the idea that formula fed babies are any less loved or cared for.”

Ava smiled, and then reached over to lightly pat the top of Felix’s head once he was finished drinking and had tugged his mouth away from the nipple of the bottle. “He’s such a little cutie.”

Pepper smiled as well, and nodded in agreement.”Yea, he sure is. And it makes sense, since he is related to you.”

Ava’s smile grew, and she knew that her jealousy might not ever disappear entirely, but that at least she’d gotten the benefit of getting a brother out of all this. Now she could only hope that he grew up quickly enough to go from cute baby to cool kid.


	79. Chapter 79

Everyone at the lunch table made the appropriate noises to show how cute they thought Felix was as Ava passed pictures of him around. “I mean, it does completely make sense that he’s so adorable, since he is my brother, which means he has some of the same genes as me.”

Miles laughed. “So you’re not going to give any of the credit to his mom or dad?”

Ava shook her head. “No need.” She spent the rest of the period telling them everything she possibly could about her baby brother, and then the bell rang and they all headed their separate ways. At the end of the day, Angel met up with Ava by the front doors of the school, and they linked their arms together. “You have no idea how wonderful it is to see you,” Ava told her girlfriend in a very serious voice.

Angel arched one eyebrow. “I’m sure I can imagine. I mean, it is me that we’re talking about. No way that anyone could go longer than a day without starting to miss me.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I’m serious.”

Angel nodded. “I know. I still don’t think I’ve managed to fully wrap my head around everything that happened to you yesterday. I was tempted to say something to Hayden, because you just know he’d be absolutely fascinated by anything involving you and your superpowers, but then I figured that it would probably be best to stay quiet. It seems like it would be a bit cruel to tell him about the future when you don’t even know if he was alive or not in it.”

“I hadn’t even thought of telling him,” Ava admitted quietly. “I wasn’t honestly planning on telling you either, but it just all came out of my mouth before I could even stop it. I’m glad that I did, though. I might start to think I was going crazy if no one outside of my family knew about what happened.” She suddenly turned her head to the side so that she could kiss Angel on the cheek. “Well, it’s nice knowing you, but my ride’s here.”

She pulled her arm free from Angel’s, and then headed over to the car that had pulled up. She slid into the front seat, and then looked at Tony. “So you actually remembered that I exist?” she asked teasingly. “Anyways, do you have any ideas about how we’re going to stop Thanos?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I don’t even get a hello? Am I just your taxi driver now?”

Ava sighed with exaggeration, and then leaned over to give Tony a hug. “Fine, fine, hello, and thank you for the ride.” Then she leaned back and looked at him expectantly. “Now, do you have any ideas about how we’re going to stop Thanos?”

Tony looked pointedly at her until she remembered to buckle her seat belt, and then he pulled away from the school. “I have given it a great deal of thought,” he said slowly. “I really think that those infinity stones are key here. They aren’t the real ones so they don’t harm you to touch them, but they still let you use the power. And that’s the same power that Thanos was able to use to get rid of half the population. I’m sure you could use it to get rid of a single person.”

Ava blinked once, and then frowned. “You want me to kill him?” She couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. 

From the way Tony tensed up, it was pretty obvious that Tony hadn’t missed it either. “I know that it isn’t ideal. But what else could we possibly do against someone so powerful? It sounds like we completely failed when we tried to fight him. I know it isn’t right for me to ask this of you, but if you don’t do that, then billions of innocent people will die instead.” He glanced away from the road for a moment to look at Ava, and then shrugged. “You know what? Why don’t we talk about this more later? Tell me about your day. Anything interesting happen at school?”

Ava clenched her jaw, and reached over to turn on the radio, and blast the volume, and then she turned to look out the window. Tony didn’t try to say anything else, or even to turn down the radio. He just drove them back to the tower without a word, and then dropped Ava off by the main entrance so that he could drive around to the parking garage on his own.

Ava went inside, straight up to the the living area, and found Pepper in the living room, laying back against one arm so that Felix could lay on top of her chest. She smiled when she saw Ava, and then reached up to press one finger to her lips. “He just fell asleep,” she whispered.

Ava crouched down in front of the couch, and reached out to very gently run her hand over the top of Felix’s head. “He’s really something special, huh?”

Pepper reached out to put her hand on Ava’s head. “So are you.” There was a pause, and then Pepper continued in a hesitant voice. “Tony told me about where you were yesterday. I don’t… are you alright? Unfortunately none of my parenting books have actually covered what to say when your kid ends up in a post-apocalyptic type future where they basically don’t even exist.”

Ava snorted, then reached up to cover her mouth as if she could draw the noise back in. “Sorry, I should probably just go. We can talk again when I don’t have to worry about accidentally waking him up.” Then she stood up and quickly flew up to the third floor and went into her bedroom. She closed the door quietly, since she wasn’t sure how much noise it would take to wake up Felix, and she didn’t want to find out. 

Felix was a really cute baby, and he seemed pretty cool as a teenager, even if she hadn’t been able to know him for very long like that. She was pretty sure that the future had already changed, if only because she was actually going to be in it this time, which meant that if Thanos got the chance to go through with his plans, it was very well possible that an entirely different group of people would end up dead. Maybe Felix, or Tony, or Pepper, or Angel, or anyone else. And even if she did absolutely nothing, she knew for sure that Peter would die, along with billions of others.

If there was something she could actually do to prevent that, and she chose to do nothing, then that would make her the most selfish person alive. What good reason could she possibly come up with to not help? That it would make her feel bad? That she still felt sick when she thought about killing Obadiah, even though it had been entirely necessary to save people’s lives? Those were just excuses. 

Of course she thought it was stupid that out of everyone in the universe, it just had to be her stuck with the power to actually be able to do something. But that didn’t make it any less her responsibility, her obligation, to help. She sank down onto her bed, and then leaned back to stare at the ceiling. “Jarvis, if you could stop billions from dying, but you don’t want to because the thought of what you’d have to do makes you want to vomit, does that make you the worst person in the entire world?”

“Unless you are the one causing those billions to die, I highly doubt you would qualify as the worst person in the world. I heard you telling Angel about your adventures. I assume that this is about Thanos? You believe that you know of some way to stop him?”

Ava gulped. “Yeah. But to do things this way would mean that I’m literally the only person who can actually do it. Dad thinks that I could make my own version of all of the infinity stones, and then use that power to kill Thanos long before he can get his hands onto any of his own. Or anymore, if he already has some. The future wasn’t really too clear about that. But I don’t want to kill anyone, Jarvis.”

There was a moment of silence before he responded. “You really believe that not wanting to kill someone could ever make you the bad guy?”

Ava shrugged. “I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t really have any excuses for not doing the right thing. He’s definitely a bad person. I mean he’s killed tons of people by now, even if he hasn’t gotten all of his stupid rocks yet. I’d be doing the entire universe a favor by getting rid of him. But no matter how much I tell myself that, I can’t help knowing that I’m going to feel awful if I actually do it. But I killed Obadiah without a second thought, so why am I suddenly freezing up now?”

“It is alright to be scared of doing something, Ava. There is no requirement that you be the bravest person there is. But if you truly believe that it’s the right thing to do, then won’t you regret it if you do nothing and people of Earth get hurt or killed?”

She sighed, and then nodded once. “You’re right. I’m going to regret doing this, but I’m probably going to regret not doing it even more.” She sat up and crossed her legs, and then squeezed her eyes shut. She focused intently on everything that she’d seen in the clips shown to her by future-Tony, and held her hands open expectantly. 

It felt like hours passed before she felt the slight weight on her palms, and then she opened her eyes and looked down. Three rocks in each hand. All tinted green, but each with a slightly different color to it as well. She let out a soft breath. She was really going to do this, huh? Well she had to, right? For her family, and her friends, and for everyone else in the world who would be at risk if Thanos was allowed to come here like he had before. Or, like would someday. Time travel was confusing.

Ava gently wrapped her hands around the stones. She wasn’t even entirely sure what the purpose of each one was, but she knew that altogether they had a lot of power, so she focused on that. On the idea of power. Then she closed her eyes again, and pictured Thanos from those video clips. She had no idea where to even begin searching for him, so she decided not to let his location matter. If she really had that much power in her hands, then it shouldn’t make a difference if her target was halfway across the universe or not. 

She had a fairly decent picture of him in her mind, and she was pretty sure that she had the attention of whatever power could be found within the imitation stones she was holding. Now she just needed to decide what to do with him. She could just kill him, but then on the very small chance there were people who actually loved him, she would have done a terrible thing. But with as much power as the stones held, maybe simply killing him wasn’t her only option. 

If he just didn’t exist, from the universe or from people’s memories, he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else, and no one would be hurt by his sudden absence. And if he did have an army behind him to help, it would make sure that they didn’t have a cause to rally behind, because they wouldn’t even be able to remember having had a leader. 

She wasn’t really sure how feasible her idea was, but- Ava’s eyes snapped open, and she let out a small gasp. She tried to throw the stones across the room, though as soon as they left her hands they simply disappeared. What had she been thinking? What gave her the right to decide that someone’s entire life would be summed up to literally nothing?

A quick glance at the clock on the wall showed Ava that she’d been sitting in her room for over an hour. She hopped back down to the first floor, and found Tony in the kitchen, making a sandwich for Pepper. He looked over at her with a small smile. “You want one too?”

Ava shook her head. “No. I just wanted to tell you that- that we have to find another way. I can’t kill Thanos. It wouldn’t be right. I know that it’s impossible for other people to physically interact with my holograms, which is why we have to find a way that doesn’t involve the stones at all. Please, Dad.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows, and a worried look quickly spread across his face as he listened to Ava. “What are you talking about? Why would you kill anyone?”

Ava blinked once, and then her shoulders slumped down. So it had worked just fine without her really meaning for it to. She supposed that she should feel happy, since it meant that Thanos wasn’t a problem now, and never would be for anyone that she loved. But she couldn’t help feeling nauseous. She rushed over to the sink, and heaved into it, though it had been long enough since lunch time that nothing actually came up. 

Tony dropped the twist tie and bread bag he’d been holding, and hurried to stand next to Ava, and gently rub his hand up and down her back. “Hey, it’s okay. Whatever it is-”  
Ava shook her head as she straightened up and spat into the sink a few times. “You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I just-” It would be easy enough to write it all off. Say she’d had a bad dream, or played a weird video game or something. But she didn’t want there to be lies between herself and Tony. They’d both worked too hard to build up their relationship to where it was now, and Tony didn’t deserve dishonesty for her. 

Even as she was thinking that, Tony was reaching into one of the cabinets to grab a glass, and he reached past Ava to turn on the sink and fill it with cool water before pressing it into her hands. “Here, drink this.” After she took a couple of sips, Tony guided her over to one of the island stools, and she hopped up. He glanced over at the abandoned sandwich ingredients, and then back at Ava. “I’ll be right back.” He slapped the sandwich together haphazardly, and then brought it out to Pepper, who was presumably still in the living room. He soon returned, and sat down next to Ava, reaching to gently put his hand on her arm. “What’s going on?”

She took another sip of water, and then leaned over to press her forehead against the cool marble surface before talking without lifting her head back up. “This is going to sound weird, but yesterday I went to the future.”

It took a moment for Tony to react, but it wasn’t what she was expecting. “I already know that.”

Ava did pick her head back up then, so that she could look at Tony in confusion. “I was given a warning in the future about someone who was going to do a lot of damage to human beings.”

Tony nodded. “I remember that too.”

Ava crossed her arms over her chest. “You basically said that our only option was for me to use all of the stones to kill Thanos- the one who was causing the threat to Earth. I was going to do that, but then I couldn’t help thinking of possible alternatives to straight up murder, and I’m pretty sure that I accidentally kind of sort of erased him from existence instead.” She said that last part in a long mumble. 

Tony took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. I’m not quite sure where to start. I remember you saying that something dangerous was going to happen in the future, but that’s about it. I can’t believe- it’s crazy that any one person could have the power to make another person just- just not exist? I don’t even know where to begin with that part alone. A few literal wires in your brain can’t possibly give you that kind of ability, and yet, I do believe you.” He leaned over to pull Ava into a hug. “I don’t what I was thinking if I’m the one who told you that killing someone was the only option. I’m so sorry.”

“Why can’t I ever just catch a break?”

Tony shrugged helplessly. “I wish I knew what to say to help you. I guess on the bright side, the future you say isn’t going to play out at least, right?”

Ava sighed. “Maybe. But if I have the same power that Thanos did, then how do you know that I’m not going to use it to do some really bad things?”

“Because I know you. You’re not a bad person. Just look at how upset you are right now about hurting one person. There’s no way you’d be able to hurt more. You’re not going to use that power again, are you?”

Ava quickly shook her head. “No, of course not. I can’t even begin to imagine using it again. It’s too much. I shouldn’t even have it. I hate that I have it.”

Tony looked almost disappointed. “I would be interested to learn more about how it works. But I think that it is for the best to not use it again.” He kissed the top of Ava’s head. “Sometimes heroes have to do hard things, but I will never stop loving you, I promise.” He got back to his feet. “Come on, watch a movie with us. Family movie night. An official holiday that I just declared right now.”

It wasn’t even a subtle attempt to try and get Ava’s mind off of everything, but she accepted it all the same. She hopped down from her stool as well. “Alright. But only if we’re allowed to pick something that isn’t entirely babyish. It’s not like Felix would remember watching an action movie when he was just a couple days old.”

Tony snorted. “Good luck trying to convince Pepper of that.” Then they both went to the living room, and cuddled up on the couch, with Ava squished between the two adults. They managed to compromise by watching an action movie with very minimal blood, and no swears. Even so, it seemed like Pepper wanted to cup her hands around Felix’s eyes every few minutes. It was easy for Tony and Ava to laugh at the protective behavior, and Ava settled down after a while. She knew that she wasn’t just going to be able to ‘get over’ it, but at least she had other things to focus on for now. And she wasn’t going to let herself forget that no matter how bad it may have been to deal with Thanos the way she had, at least it meant that everyone else was safe.


	80. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well- we have finally reached the end to one of my longest fics to date! Thank you so much to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story, and encouraged me to keep on going even though there were several times that I just had to take a break from it. I'm satisfied with this ending, and hope that I wrapped up everything important. I really liked working on this story, and I'm almost sad to see it end, but glad to have finished on what I think is a high note. Thank you again!

Ava gave Tony a slight pat on the shoulder. “Seriously, please tell me that you’re not crying. I did not go through all the trouble of convincing my friends that I have the coolest dad ever only to see you totally break down back here.”

Tony quickly shook his head, though his eyes had the undeniable sheen of unshed tears in them. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of doing anything to ruin your big day.” He pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m really proud of you. You know that, right? I love you so much, and I’m so proud of you.”

Something in his tone clued Ava in on the fact that what he’d just said was somehow related to his own childhood, which had only been marginally better than hers. But she also knew that he was telling, the truth, and she couldn’t stop herself from giving him a fond smile as she nodded. “I know, Dad. And I love you too.” 

Before Tony could actually burst into tears, Pepper made her way back over to them, pushing a small stroller that had Felix in it. He kept looking around at everything with wide eyes, probably confused about why there were so many people wearing blue. Ava knelt down in front of the stroller so that she could reach in and tickle Felix. “Aw, who’s the most supportive little brother to show up at my graduation like this? I’m honored that you would skip nap time just for me.”

Felix made some unintelligible gurgling noises, and then reached down to grab Ava’s pointed finger, closing his chubby fist around the digit. Pepper looked down at the two of them and laughed. “It’s nice to see the two of you getting along so well. Sorry for missing the last few minutes of the ceremony. Felix really needed a diaper change, and, well,” she looked over at Tony pointedly. He was usually the one in charge of diaper changes, but Pepper was smart enough to realize that it would have taken a nearly impossible amount of force to drag him away from Ava’s graduation. 

Once some of the hype from the ceremony calmed down, more people seemed to spot Tony, Pepper, and Felix, and tried to ‘subtly’ make their way over to talk to the famous family. Ava slipped away at that point to find her friends. Hayden and Angel had both graduated today as well, and had to pull themselves free of their families’ hugs. Miles and Peter were both younger- and Peter went to a different school anyways- but both boys had shown up to witness the milestone event. 

Ava found the four teens together, and grinned as she joined them. “So we’re like actual, official adults now. Who’s terrified for the future?”

Angel scoffed as she wrapped one arm around Ava’s waist to pull her closer. “Don’t be an idiot. I’m pretty sure that the girl with super powers has very little to worry about in the long run. You’ll be just fine.”

“I’m a bit nervous,” Hayden admitted. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to go to college in Washington. It’s all the way on the other side of the country. What if something happens? I wouldn’t be able to call my folks to come and pick me up and make everything better.”

Ava leaned forward to give him a gentle shove to the shoulder. “You’ll be fine,” she told him confidently. “If you need anything, I’m sure your parents would be more than willing to be there for you. And I’m always just a call away, now that I actually have a cellphone.” She glanced at the others. “That goes for all of you. I’ve got a lot of money, and my superpowers, so if any of you ever need anything, then seriously don’t hesitate to let me know, and I swear that I’d do everything within my power to get you what you need.”

Angel sighed, and tilted her head to rest it on one of Ava’s shoulders. “You’re too good to us. What did we ever do to deserve you? What did I ever do to deserve you?”

Ava shrugged with her other shoulder to avoid dislodging her girlfriend. “Ah, don’t ask stuff like that. I’m the lucky one here, to have met all of you.” Even as she said that, Ava could feel her stomach tightening into knots. She knew that things weren’t going to always be easy in the future. Her and Angel would be pretty far apart come the fall, though they’d both already agreed to put all their effort into maintaining a long-distance relationship. She’d also be pretty far away from home, from her parents and brother, though she knew that she could always get back quickly enough if she had to.

But more than anything else, Ava felt excited for the future. She wasn’t sure when that had last happened. Growing up had been about just getting through everything one day at a time, and she honestly hadn’t even expected to survive long enough to see herself become an adult. And then even after finally finding her real family, she’d spent too much time worrying about when she was going to be kicked out to think about the future at all. But now she had so much ahead of her, between university starting in the fall, and continuing as a superhero, and trying to get home as often as possible to be there as Felix grew up. She wasn’t even really sure what she wanted to do, having enrolled as an ‘undecided’ student, but Ava was pleased to know that there were really infinite possibilities.

Eventually her friends had to leave, and Ava bid them all goodbye, though Angel was of course the only one she shared a passionate kiss with first. Then she glanced over at Tony, and saw that he was still surrounded by her classmates and their families. He seemed more relaxed than panicked, though, and Ava decided that it was a nice distraction for him, so she wasn’t going to insist on going home just yet. All the preparations for their epic graduation party had already been made, so they didn’t have to worry about getting back to the tower extra early.

As Ava looked around, she spotted someone she hadn’t really expected to see again, and hurried over before the other woman could disappear. “Jack!”

The lady gave Ava a small smile. “I knew that today was going to be an important day. The fortune teller told me so. Congratulations on passing from one world to the next. Fortify yourself now, child, but don’t surround yourself with impenetrable shields.”

Ava furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

Jack nodded over towards a young man standing slightly apart from everyone else. He looked vaguely familiar, and Ava glanced back at Jack, only to see that the woman was already gone. She rolled her eyes, but then made her way over to the boy. His eyes widened as she got closer, and he cleared his throat a couple of times, looking very obviously nervous. “Uh, Ava, hi,” he started awkwardly. 

Ava arched one eyebrow. “Sorry, but I’m not actually quite sure where I know you from.”

The boy looked a bit surprised, and then bowed his head down so that he was staring intently at the ground instead of looking at Ava. “We went to school together for a few years. I’m Chad Mully.”

Ava gasped at that. Of course she hadn’t forgotten the name of one of her worst tormentors from her younger years. This was the kid who’d seemed to make it his job to make Ava’s school life just as miserable as her home life. He was the one who’d pushed her in front of a moving car that could have potentially killed her. “What are you doing here?” She tried to make her voice come out sounding cold, but she couldn’t keep the curiosity from getting through. 

Chad sighed. “After you transferred schools, I thought that that would be the end of it, and you would just be some kid from school that I’d barely remember. Then there was all that news a couple years back about you being the kid of Tony freakin’ Stark. I was pissed at first. I mean, you were already one of the richer kids at school, and then suddenly you were being taken in by one of the richest and coolest guys in the entire world. I thought that everything was just falling perfectly into your lap and that you never had to deal with any of the hard stuff that everyone else did. But there’s no excuse for how I treated you. And I hate myself for how long it took me to realize that. I’ve uh, I’ve got a kid now. A little girl. She’s almost a year old, and I can’t help thinking that if anyone ever treated her the way I did you, I would kill them. Nobody deserves to feel like they don’t matter, or like they don’t deserve to be alive.” He took a deep breath in, then slowly let it out. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything I did and said to you, and as much as I think you deserve to hear that in person, I also know that I’m telling you this now because it’s something I have to say. I don’t expect you to ever forgive me, god no, but I am sorry.”

Ava stared at him with wide eyes, wondering what she was even supposed to say to that. She hadn’t given Chad much thought at all since the day she’d met Tony. There had been so many more important things on her mind than a teenage bully. But she couldn’t deny that it felt nice to hear his apology. It seemed to settle something inside of her that she hadn’t even realized was unsettled. She offered him a small smile. “The way you treated me went beyond normal bullying. You destroyed the one place that had any chance of being safe for me, and you nearly killed me. But I really do appreciate the apology. And if you’ve really changed for the better then I’m sure that your daughter is very lucky to have you.”

Chad nodded once. “Good luck with, well, with everything. I know you don’t need luck, but you deserve it anyways. I hope you get everything in life that you’re looking for.”

Ava looked over at where Tony was bouncing Felix gently up and down in his arms while Pepper watched on with an amused look, and several people took pictures of the adorable sight. Then she looked back at Chad. “You know what? I think that I already have.” Then she turned to walk back towards her family. 

So maybe her life hadn’t gotten off to the best start. Born to be a weapon, raised by people who didn’t care. More bad years than good ones so far. More years with the wrong family than the right one. But there were so many years stretched out in front of her, and she planned on making the most of them. She planned on living life to the fullest until she could finally say she’d had more years that were good than bad. She was going to work hard and succeed at whatever she settled on doing, because she knew she had the full support of so many people behind her. Ava wasn’t just going to survive, she was going to live. And she was going to live happily, because that was the only possibly future that she would accept.


End file.
